Full Profile · From the Interview Record
Titus J. Nez
≈ 4 min read · or listen, or skim the bold lines
B · From the record Summaries are drawn from Cal Nez’s interview. Quotations are not published until checked against the recording. How we verify →
Anything spoken in Diné Bizaad during the interview could not be captured by the automated transcription and is not reflected in these summaries — the interview video is the only faithful record of those portions.
Candidate Snapshot
Background & Why They’re Running
Nez centers his platform on “economic sovereignty” and a Navajo-first approach: keeping Navajo money circulating in Navajo communities, expanding the Navajo Business Opportunity Act so tribal enterprises stop competing with private Navajo businesses, and building economic hubs along the I-40 corridor. He frames the long arc as generational independence from federal dependency.
Where Titus J. Nez Stands
Each topic below is drawn from the interview — the question Cal asked, and a short summary of the answer, generated by AI from the interview recording.
Governance History & Government Reform
Cal asked: Do you understand the history of the Navajo Nation government — Title 2 and the 1989 changes?
Nez traced the Peter MacDonald sovereignty era, the 1989 Title 2 amendments he argues left presidents largely ceremonial, and Albert Hale's local-empowerment plan he says was gutted into an unusable Title 26. He criticized turnover at the Office of Government Development and inconsistency in the courts, and proposed a citizen “fourth branch” of oversight.
The Budget & the Missing $24M
Cal asked: How did the $24 million happen, and what can the Council actually do?
Nez argued appropriations should carry “strings” — conditions and reporting tied to the money — and pushed closing loopholes, a Title 12 (fiscal) revamp, and segregation of duties so funds can't move without accountability.
Land Status & Land-Back
Cal asked: What about land — trust land, restricted-fee, the checkerboard around Gallup?
Nez wants trust and restricted-fee land returned to the chapters that surround it, supports buying back non-Navajo land around Gallup, and would return the Church Rock Industrial Park (and its casino tax revenue) to the local chapter. He did not go into grazing or homesite-lease mechanics.
Healthcare & 638
Cal asked: Do you support 638? Where is the oversight?
Nez supported 638 across police, schools, and health, citing the Lumbee recognition debate, ; asked about the host’s point that HEHSC receives only one report a year from each 638 facility, he pointed instead to Law & Order Committee oversight of 638 law enforcement and its Washington lobbying for 638 funding. He raised off-reservation IHS access under the Treaty of 1868 and extended PTSD treatment for veterans.
Enterprises & Economic Development
Cal asked: What about the Nation's enterprises, and getting Navajos into business?
Nez would expand the NBOA and shift opportunity from the enterprises toward private Navajo businesses — he criticized ARPA-era contracts going to enterprises like NECA while entrepreneurs were left out (“we’re pumping money into enterprises”), proposed a Navajo bank capitalized by the Nation to issue seed loans, and would build economic hubs along I-40 and the highway corridors in his district.
Topics in the Interview
- Platform & Economic Sovereignty
- Governance History & Government Reform
- The Budget & the Missing $24M
- Land Status & Land-Back
- Healthcare & 638
- Enterprises & Economic Development