Native Voters Help Win Arizona for the Democrats. What's Next?
Yá'át'ééh and happy post Inauguration Day!
As we begin this year with renewed hope and new Democratic leadership, I am reminded of the many 2020 wins and accomplishments ushered in by our Northeast Arizona Native Democrats and Navajo County Democrats teams. I am grateful for the Daily Kos Community and all the voters, organizers, volunteers, donors, and partners who made President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Inauguration day possible. The day was full of celebration, inspiring speeches, and gripping news coverage. We saw the impact of our efforts and were connected with other organizers from around the country who also worked locally to bring this day to fruition. Our collective power just reinforced the need for our work in Arizona to continue. We must continue building power and organizing in Indigenous communities. Help us keep Arizona blue.
I am thinking about our small team of Indigenous organizers in 2020 that grew to thirty organizers, at several points during the election campaign, and how they moved mountains to register voters. They were amazing and the heart of this program. Our team came together despite all the challenges and personal losses from this pandemic. We lost family members, friends, jobs, and so much more. Yet, we found a way to connect in meaningful ways and persevere. Navajo, Hopi, and Apache organizers and voters helped deliver a big win for the Democrats. And Arizona turned blue in a presidential election for only the 2nd time in the last 72 years!
Native voters on Navajo Nation, Hopi, White Mountain, and San Carlos Apache lands and precincts overwhelmingly voted for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Mark Kelly, Congressman Tom O’Halleran, and every Democratic candidate on the ballot across Coconino, Navajo, Apache, Gila, and Graham Counties. Now our teams work to help them be successful in office while also making sure they are present and show up for our communities, and not just during the remaining months of a campaign, but every day. We continue to build and organize now and for the future of our families and communities and we make sure more Native people run for office and serve in Democratic Party leadership.
The 2020 election win happened because of organizers like 18-year-old Sareya Taylor from White Mountain Apache Tribe who registered to vote for the first time because she wanted to see more Native candidates in office. Then she went out and helped register more of her peers. Organizers like Daryl Lomatewama, a young man from Hopi who had never worked on a political campaign before and helped change the culture of voting in his village and increased voter registration and early voting in his community even in a pandemic. For years, Jandi Craig knew her community was being heavily inundated with Republican conservative messages and undertones that were in direct conflict with her own. She wanted to find ways to educate and articulate Democratic values that were much more closely aligned with community, kinship, and her traditional Apache values and beliefs.
Indigenous organizers know their communities best and the Democratic Party should want to invest more in these efforts year around. Strengthening and leveraging this powerhouse within the Democratic Party makes sense especially when 2022 elections will soon be fast approaching. Sen. Mark Kelly will be running for re-election, the governor’s seat will be up, and other key seats will have to be cultivated.
This is why our team through the Northeast Arizona Native Democrats and Navajo County Democrats are committed to keeping the organizers hired in 2021 to engage their communities beyond the November 2020 General Elections. Indigenous organizers who live in their communities know how to connect their family, friends, clans, and relatives and leverage that power for positive change. This is the momentum we have to nurture throughout 2021 and beyond.
Read the full article by Jaynie Parrish here: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/25/2011172/-Native-American-Voters-Helped-Win-Arizona-for-the-Democrats-What-s-Next?_=2021-01-25T09:00:42.428-08:00#comment_80078550 (published in the Daily Kos 1.25.21)
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Navajo, Hopi, and Apache organizers in Arizona.