Arizona Indigenous organizers mobilize to ensure Native Democratic representation
Navajo County Democrats_Volunteers in Kayenta, AZ, Navajo Nation
Native and non-Native volunteers and organizers are working together to make sure we have rural and Native Democratic representation in our state legislature.
Arizona Native voters delivered a big win for the Democrats in the 2020 presidential election despite the barriers of the pandemic coupled with long-standing historical challenges. Now regressive forces are working hard to leave out Native and rural candidates and voters in 2022. We won’t let them.
The Navajo County Democrats, Northeast Arizona Native Democrats, Family Votes Matriarchs, and over a dozen volunteers moved mountains these past two weeks to help Arizona’s Legislative District 06 Democratic candidates get on the ballot – ensuring Indigenous and rural voters are represented in our state legislature. The geographic size of Legislative District 06 (and old LD07) is comparable to the size of the state of Indiana.
The new map of AZ Legislative District 06 (LD06). All new AZ congressional and state legislative maps may be found here.
On March 21st, two weeks before the candidate filing deadline of April 4th, it became clear that several Legislative District 06 candidates, who are also Native candidates, needed help reaching voters and collecting signatures. They struggled with access to accurate information about the qualification process, and it was putting them behind in gathering the signatures they needed. This was a huge worry, because it’s challenging to gather signatures in our rural areas even with ideal conditions and no time constraints. Also, unlike signature collection for congressional and other state seats, voters could not sign online petitions for AZLD-06 candidates: they had to use paper petitions. That’s a serious structural barrier when a rural district’s population is thinly spread across thousands of square miles.
Our new candidates also faced information barriers about how to qualify for the ballot. It’s tough for everyone to learn to run a campaign; but our northeast Arizona candidates could not get straight answers about the process and deadlines. Even we kept getting new info. until a few days ago. The Party’s central infrastructure and Secretary of State are far away, both physically and digitally. Rural and Indigenous candidates who run for office also have very limited budgets, which prevents them from paying the $2,000+ in fees required by Democratic Party committees to receive candidate support and coaching. Cut off from traditional sources of support, our candidates turned to the Chair of the Navajo County Democrats, Missa Foy (who volunteers her time) and team for guidance and help.
This is what happened next
We at the Navajo County Democrats are painfully familiar with the structural barriers our rural and Indigenous candidates and voters face to be heard in Arizona politics. We don’t throw up our hands when faced with situations like obtaining thousands of signatures across a vast rural geography in a very narrow timeframe. We don’t have that luxury. We don’t have time to argue about the physical and financial burden the current process places on rural and Indigenous candidates. We mobilize.
Hopi Family Votes Matriarchs visit with organizer Lorraine Coin.
Missa and our team immediately activated an extensive network of volunteers and organizers to get the work done. She and over a dozen volunteers and organizers quickly coordinated tabling events in our region, scheduled drop off/pick up points, scripted radio ads, sent over five thousand text messages and hundreds of emails, set up phone banks, and did so much more.
“What were we going to do? Nothing? We couldn’t say no. This should be a priority for all Arizona Democrats. I can’t imagine our team not giving our all and fighting to get our Indigenous candidates on the ballot. To risk not having our Democratic candidates on the ballot, is not how we roll. This is what we’ve been fighting for for years.” - Missa Foy, Chair Navajo County Democrats
Our team immediately alerted all our organizers and volunteers to set up tables at rural gathering points to get signatures and update voter registrations. We set our deadline of March 30th, five days ahead of the deadline for filing with the Secretary of State, because in northeast Arizona we have to plan for long travel distances, poor roads, and uncertain weather conditions.
Missa Foy and volunteers talk with voters about candidates and updates voter registration in Kayenta, AZ, Navajo Nation
Keep in mind, all this work is taking place in winter weather in many parts of northeastern Arizona, with temperatures averaging in the 30s and 40s, high winds, rain, snow. The road conditions are muddy because they aren’t paved in our region unless you are in town centers. We’re operating with limited internet and phone service. There is still a pandemic. We’re up against a lot, and we got it done anyway. The signatures are now collected.
We have volunteer couriers, like Missa, Steve, Katherine and others who are coordinating deliveries of petitions throughout the county including six locations on sovereign lands. This requires travel of 8 hours or more (roundtrip) to various locations to pick up and deliver hard copies of the petitions and drive them to other points of contact in Flagstaff who will then have to drive them to Phoenix before the April 4th deadline.
If I haven’t tired you out by now, you can see this effort is a very elaborate and labor intensive process, but it must be done. We need Democratic candidates on the ballot and we must ensure Indigenous candidates and communities are also heard.
Organizing in tribal and rural communities is not easy and has its own unique set of challenges beyond the travel distance, limited internet connectivity and phone service. The real shame is still little to no real investment by our own large cash rich campaigns.
Our team of Navajo County Democrats, and Northeast Arizona Native Democrats coalition is the exception because we made a commitment, years ago as individuals and as an organization, to be there for our communities year round–to build something better. To show our tribal and rural voters we truly do care that their voices are heard and that it’s not just a campaign slogan. We don't show up two or three months before an election asking for votes, then disappear. We are trying to break this disposable, ugly, and ineffective style of campaigning in our communities. We deserve better. We are from these communities and won’t be ignored anymore. So we are doing everything we can now to follow through on our promises and be genuine partners.
We are grateful to have a phenomenal team of Native and non-Native volunteers and organizers who work together and who step up time and again for community and for each other. We are a human campaign.
Filling out paperwork in Hopi.
Here's where we are
+ March 21st - many Democratic candidates in LD06 did not have half of the petition signatures needed to get on the ballot.
+ March 30th - Our team along with the help of many partners, volunteers, and organizers have collected over 2,800 signatures for our candidates, updated over 30 voter registrations, held over a dozen tabling events and one-on-ones, and signed up more Family Votes Matriarchs, in addition to logging in over 48 hours of total driving time (spread out across volunteers and organizers). And we are still going to make sure to give our candidates some extra cushions and our voters a chance to participate.
We had and are continuing to have tabling events and one-on-ones in Kayenta, Chinle, Winslow, Leupp, Crossroads, Whiteriver, and everywhere in between up until March 31st.
Kayenta Flea Market - Eric, Missa, Casey, Wade, and volunteers
Chinle Flea Market - Casey, Wade and volunteers
Leupp Flea Market - Mae and volunteers
Tuba City Flea Market - Deydrek
Window Rock- Joanne and April
Whiteriver - Marian
Cibecue- RJ
Seven Mile -Marian
Cedar Creek- RJ
Pinetop-Lakeside-Snowflake Sheryl, Missa and Kim
Page- Deydrek
Teec Nos Pos and Red Mesa- Priscilla, John, and volunteers
Winslow - Missa and Jacob
Dilcon - Glenn, Mae
Hopi - Lorraine
Who are the candidates
We have three AZLD-06 candidates running for the state house; incumbent Myron Tsosie of Chinle and two challengers Deydrek Scott of Tuba City and Mae Peshlakai from Cameron. For state Senate we have incumbent Theresa Hatathlie. All are citizens from the Navajo Nation.
Native voter
Indigenous and rural candidates need more support
The further Arizona Indigenous and rural candidates are from Maricopa County and state Democratic Party infrastructure the harder it is for them to get on the ballot. Limited access to resources, sparsely populated communities and overcoming sheer travel distance makes field work and direct voter outreach much harder. Yet, there is no place in the country quite like northeast Arizona with the density of Indigenous populations. As we are a powerful voting bloc, and our region forms the new LD06 and Congressional District 02.
Arizona is home to the most Native-populated districts in the United States. And yet for far too long our communities have been left out. We recognized these gaps long ago and have since dedicated our time and energy, as the Navajo County Democrats and Northeast Arizona Native Democrats coalition, to realize the full potential of this voting bloc and overcome all of the obstacles we face.
It’s one thing to stand on a busy street corner in Phoenix and gather signatures. Voters already have a physical address. Contrast that with our communities where the gathering spots are few and far between and there’s almost no home mail delivery to a widely spread out population.
If Indigenous and rural candidates are struggling to run, to find support, or to be included in the process at all, this means the Indigenous and rural voters they would represent will never be heard.
We have fought too long for these voices to be denied. Thankfully, our dedicated team of organizers and volunteers are here, as they have been for years, filling in the gaps and making up for what is not being done.
Invest in us–invest in Arizona tribal and rural communities today
Marian in Whiteriver, AZ, White Mountain Apache Tribe
We have a phenomenal team who steps up time and again with limited resources. We showed up in 2020, 2021, and now in 2022. We are an independent grassroots organization that operates on a budget of less than $150,000 in a Midterms year and we do all our own fundraising and mobilization. We have a small paid staff of five and rely predominantly on the assistance of volunteers. We’ve shown time and again how successful our team, communities, and networks can be. We get the work done.
We’ve proven hiring local Apache, Hopi, and Navajo organizers to reach their communities is one of the most effective ways to mobilize and give back to voters. We are counting on this strategy for the Midterms elections, but we must invest now in tribal and rural communities.
Consider making a one-time donation today or join our Circle of Friends with a $5 recurring monthly donation or our Circle of Matriarchs with a $25 recurring monthly donation.
Checks may also be mailed to: Navajo County Democrats PO Box 144, Lakeside, AZ 85929 · (928) 224-8021
Thank you so much for standing with us and making this early investment. This work is essential for all Arizona Democrats.
Shoutouts:
Thank you to our organizers and matriarchs who give so much of their time and step up when we need you.
Thanks to every person who has helped get the word out, was willing to table, knocked doors, donated gas cards and food, made calls, sent emails and text messages, bought tribal radio ad time, signed up to be couriers, and much more. You all inspire us!
Stay connected with us and help amplify the work! Help share and get the word out on your social platforms and share our social media posts and stories.
Jaynie Parrish, Executive Director
Navajo County Democrats
jpnavajoco@gmail.com
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Twitter: @navajocountydem
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