Mikhail Ganadonegro is, at 25, the youngest candidate in the delegate race — from Tohajiilee (Canoncito Band of Navajos), with a Native American Studies background and experience as a governmental representative for the City of Albuquerque. His interview with Cal Nez covered his community-rooted platform, branch communication, the structure of the government, and economic development — and he was candid about still learning several policy areas. Below are the questions Cal asked, short summaries of Ganadonegro'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 Mikhail Ganadonegro’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.
Ganadonegro's platform comes from what he sees daily in Tohajiilee — families waiting years for water lines, homes, and safe roads — and his conviction that the Nation can do better; he stressed checking in with every community across his five chapters rather than favoring one.
He emphasized transparency and hearing both sides, working with colleagues, and hosting work sessions and meetings to bring the branches together.
Ganadonegro candidly said he is new and still researching — he has been studying the history from the 1920s through the 1989 reform — and wasn't able to identify Title II specifically. He does disagree with the reduction to 24 delegates (six communities each) and wants to understand how the reapportionment passed.
He believed all five are certified and described certification as a chapter overseeing its own funding, while openly inviting correction; he noted his home chapter (Tohajiilee) had discussed going under the BIA.
Ganadonegro pointed to law-and-order and policymaking, and especially relationship-building — as a governmental representative for the City of Albuquerque working on American Indian and Alaska Native affairs, he built regular communication across tribal, state, and federal offices.
He pushed back on the “third-world country” framing, pointing to existing phone and Wi-Fi service, and named aging chapters and condemned senior centers as priorities. Asked about the NBOA, he candidly said he hadn't reached that yet as he is still visiting communities.
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: