Navajo Nation President Nygren Announces Bid for Second Term

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren launched his bid for a second term Monday, months after a Navajo Nation District Court judge blocked the Navajo Nation Council from removing him from office over a special prosecutor's allegations that he misused government funds and directed staff to falsify expense records.

In a video posted to social media, Nygren picked up his signature black hat and told supporters, "I will be tossing my hat into the race." The announcement formally opens a campaign that will ask Apache County voters, who live within one of the most heavily Navajo-populated stretches of the reservation, to weigh a disputed first-term record against promises of continued infrastructure progress.

Nygren took office in January 2023, the youngest president in Window Rock's history, defeating incumbent Jonathan Nez by about 3,500 votes on pledges to bring water, electricity, and reliable roads to homes across Dinétah. His administration recorded a 42 percent rise in tribal tax revenue during 2023, completed repairs on roughly 2,500 road potholes, secured $120 million for water infrastructure, and broke ground on a $30 million improvement project on N12 near Wheatfields, an Apache County corridor targeted for completion by 2027.

That record played out against a first term defined as much by internal conflict as project milestones. In November 2025, Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley introduced legislation to remove Nygren after Special Prosecutor Kyle Nayback filed a formal ethics complaint in Navajo Nation District Court. The complaint alleged Nygren charged family members' lodging and travel to a government card, directed a subordinate to conceal family names on expense reports, and improperly hired his father-in-law, John Blackwater, as security detail. A district court judge blocked the removal action. Nygren denied the allegations, calling the effort a political power grab.

The turbulence followed an earlier rupture with Vice President Richelle Montoya, who accused Nygren of sexual harassment in April 2024. An independent investigation concluded in December 2024 that no harassment had occurred.

The Navajo Nation presidential primary is now set for July 21, 2026, moved from August to align with Arizona's state primary after the Council passed emergency legislation. Candidate filing is open. The Fort Defiance Agency, centered in Apache County, is one of five election districts administering the race.

Nygren's "keep moving forward" pitch will collide with two unfinished anchors: the N12 project still under construction through Apache County, and a water rights settlement covering 44,700 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually for the Arizona portion of the Nation that still awaits congressional action. Voters will decide whether those incomplete commitments represent momentum or a promissory note long past due.