Debbie Nez-Manuel is a Klagetoh-born social worker (MSW), former Navajo Nation division director, and longtime advocate, running for Navajo Nation President. Her interview with Cal Nez drew heavily on her lived experience and a detailed record in public safety, social services, and government administration. Below are the main topics from the interview — the key question Cal asked on each, short summaries of Nez-Manuel's answers in our own words, and follow-ups a voter might still want answered.
Watch or read the full interview, and see the scorecard, on Debbie Nez-Manuel’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.
Nez-Manuel is a Klagetoh-born social worker (MSW) and former Navajo Nation division director whose mother was murdered when Debbie was a child — an MMIW loss that shaped a life in kinship and foster care, a path to becoming Ganado's valedictorian, and a career in domestic-violence, suicide, and methamphetamine prevention, policy work, and youth leadership development (with zero suicides in her cohorts).
Public safety is the heart of her platform — protecting children, people with disabilities, and elders, and bringing justice to communities. Drawing on her service on the Arizona Governor's MMIW Task Force (2019 and 2021) and the 77 resolutions she gathered across the Nation, she'd build the framework, definitions, and grant access tribal communities need, alongside emergency management for drought, fire, and hazards like the southern-boundary train derailment.
Having passed an 18-2-1 confirmation as a division director overseeing 10 departments and multi-million-dollar budgets — and reported cleanly to her oversight committee — Nez-Manuel contrasts that with the current administration's reporting problems. She says the Nation's roughly 6,000 employees have described retaliation, bullying, and loyalty coercion, and that protecting and supporting them is critical.
In her first 30 days she'd assess all federal funding — most of the government runs on it, including workforce development and law enforcement — making sure grants are healthy, on track for reporting, and in compliance, because “first we've got to get people to work.” She'd also hold the federal government accountable for treaty rights to health, education, public safety, and natural resources.
Nez-Manuel calls IHS resources critical — the Nation hasn't yet proven it can run these services alone — so she'd advocate aggressively for federal funding while expanding 638 where the council, administration, and federal partners agree. Her key to scaling is an efficient third-party billing system and a Navajo health workforce (students in health and science) so state systems reimburse the Nation; she points to a 15-year stint helping another Arizona tribe build a high-functioning clinic.
She'd address the disparities among BIA schools, grant schools, and public districts through broadband — securing the services and funds so a student in a remote community has the same access as one in town — and called out the broken disconnect between Diné College, the school systems, and workforce development, which lacks a living plan that carries students into careers.
Topics a voter in this district might still want to hear about:
Not a judgment of this candidate — just what a specific, substantive answer includes, so you can weigh any candidate’s response: