I'm Ted Simons.

Tonight, our A-Z votes 2026 series continues with a focus on Arizona's second Congressional District, which covers vast areas of northern, eastern and central Arizona, including Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona and more than a dozen Native American nations.

Joining us now is Jonathan Nez, former Navajo Nation president and the Democratic candidate for CD two.

We should note tha we invited Republican candidate and incumbent Eli Crane to join our discussion, but he did not respond to our invitation.

We thank you for responding and we thank you for being here.

I got to ask you, because you guys matched up a couple of years ago here.

Why are you doing this again?

Why are you challenging an incumbent again?

Well, we heard in the last election that America would be first, right?

America first slogans all throughout the election.

And, you know, this year we have feel we have felt the economy in a downturn.

And a lot of people in this district all across the country feel like America has been neglected.

You know, there's a war on the other side of the world right now that is making the prices of everything here in the United States go up.

And what we really need is for this country, ou Congress, to focus on America.

People are struggling right now in this country, and we need to focus on the hardworking people.

And I want to get to a number o those things here in a second.

But again you lost the Congressman Crane a couple of years, like ten some odd points.

That's not a very close race.

Has your message changed from two years ago?

It sounds like it has.

But has it changed enough?

Well, we focused on wate security in the last election.

A lot of the folks in this district wanted us to get our fair share of water from the Colorado River and also protect our precious groundwater.

But yet, on my opponent's watch we saw Arizona get the biggest change in water, 30% reduction from the Colorado River.

And that's concerning because there is so much growth happening in Arizona, especially in communities in Arizona.

Second district.

What did he not do that you would do, considering that is such a federal issue coming from, you know, the BLM and these sorts of things.

I mean, what can you do as a member of Congress?

Let me just say, Ted, that I've done it before.

You know, being the president of the Navajo Nation, we have this direct relationship with the federal government.

I've testified multiple times before the U.S.

House of Representatives multiple times to the US Senate.

And when I was president, we were able to bring water from the San Juan River, close to farming to New Mexico, into Gallup, and also hav dollars for the infrastructure.

And today, Ted, there's water flowing to those homes from between Farmington and Gallup today.

And let's not forget, working together across the aisle is very important.

You know, we have some grea leaders in this state Senator, senators McCain, Senator Kyl, and many others that made sure that they focused on working with everyone so that Arizona will ge their fair share of resources.

I've actually worked with the Utah government, the Utah elected officials.

We got Senator Mitt Romney, Governor Spencer Cox to also get across the finish line, the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act.

So it is important that elected leaders be at the table for these discussions.

And again, my opponent is nowhere to be found at these at the table.

I want to ask you about your warrior up agenda.

What does that mean?

Well, you know, we're in the southwest here.

You know, this is my secon go around, as they say, right?

Cowboy country.

You know, I got bucked off, but I dusted myself off, got right back on, and you know, didn't give up for the the hard working people in this district so that they can have common, a common sense leader.

So in Native American tradition you know, we are all warriors.

We're fightin for the better quality of life in our communities.

And, you know, with that warrior tradition, we're saying that we have to be on the front lines of protecting our democracy and more so than ever before.

You know, this government right now is, you know, our founding fathers, I should say, our founding fathers are 250 years ago, had a vision for this country that had checks and balance.

And let me ask the viewers out there, is there really checks and balance in this country?

There is not only one party is controlling all of government, and we need to make sure that there is checks and balance in a government, and we have an opportunity come November 3rd to make sure that there are check and balances in our government.

What are the reasons that there is one party dominating as far as a political scene is concerned?

It certainly has dominated.

We'll see what happens after November.

But right now, that party came to power because there was a sense around the country.

In Arizona, Ellsworth, Senator Gallego was among the people that talked about this, that the Democratic Party leaned too far left, that cancel culture.

And the radical your opponent says he's here to cancel cancel culture and the radical left.

And he thinks that I would imagine that put you in offic and it all comes roaring back.

What are your thoughts on that?

Ted I mean, we're so polarized right now with folks on the far left and the far right making a lot of noise, but I think the majority in this country is right in the middle.

And that's why it's important for u to not look at party politics, but to look at who's in charge of this country, who's had influence in this country.

We got the ultra wealthy, the billionaires in this country, the elite in this countr that are making record profits off the backs of hard working people in this country, including Arizona.

And we need to shif that and make sure that the hard working people in this country are taking care of.

That's truly America first.

Ted.

I do want to talk, though about the idea of this district.

It leans conservative, okay.

We know that it leans conservative.

And what you say about ultra billionaires and such.

For some conservatives, they don't have a problem with that.

That's that's success.

And that should be the spoils of success.

How do you convince people in this district that you're not too liberal for this district?

We all want the American dream, and today we see the American dream being pulled away from har working people in this country.

They can't get ahead because of the high prices of goods and services the high prices of health care.

You know, we need to make sure that rural America and rural Arizona is taken care of.

Not everybody wants to live in big cities, Ted.

Right.

They want to go back int rural communities where they can raise their childre and take care of their elders.

We should bring bring some of those resources so we can have affordable child care, affordable elder care in those communities.

And let's also bring the cost of housing down so that, you know, hardworking people can live in rural America.

Your opponent has introduced a bill that would improv housing access for tribal vets, and he's also introduced a bill that would improve health care access for tribal vets, Native American folks that you talk to and you talk to a lot of the Navajo Nation former president here.

What are you hearing from them?

And is he not focused on American Indian issues?

Well, I wish he would be talking with these tribal leaders as a collective.

We don't see that happening.

You know, it's just him surrounding himself by his support groups and also those who voted for him.

You know, a true leader should be in the communities and not to be afraid in the communities.

You know, I'm not afrai to be out in amongst the people.

Basketball games, football games and making sure that, you know, I hear directly from our constituents because there's a lot of frustration out there.

You have to have tough skin, thick skin to be in this position.

And I've heard the frustration throughout the state about the downturn of this economy.

And it's just a leader should be listening so that a person who relinquishes or relieves that frustration from them, they should be able to go out the door and say that, you know, they feel a little better by expressing their concern.

The the creating jobs, raising wages, aspects of the community there.

Excuse me.

Republican party, Trump administration, no doubt your opponent say that H.R.

one, the tax cuts of 2017 that were extended, that these are ways to accelerate, these are ways to help the economy, to help people in your district get that economy rolling.

Is he wrong?

Several months now, that bill came into law, over 500,000 people have been taken off a snap and the health care costs have increased.

And little do people know, at the end of this year, the ACA subsidies are going to go away and our health car is only going to rise even more.

And let's not forget the big tax cuts for the wealthy in this bill, the ultra wealthy, even the folks that are in corporations who are now making record profits off the backs of hardworking people.

He's calling it the biggest middle class tax cut in US history.

Well if we're going to do a middle, middle class task tax cut, then we should be giving it to the middle class, the har working people in this country, and not the ultra wealthy, not the folks that are, you know, supporting his campaign.

How do you make health care more affordable in general?

And we can talk about Medicaid requirements, how people are off the rolls now because of work requirements, raising the age and other things like that.

And people are I mean, there can be an argument made that these folks maybe should not have been on Medicaid rolls to begin with.

That would be your opponent's argument and the Republican to speak for him.

But that would b the Republican Party argument.

Do they have a point?

Well, we have to have a national discussion about our health care in this country.

You know, you got pharmaceutical corporation making billions, if not trillions of dollars.

And we should be in this next Congress sitting together and figuring out ways to better provide health care for our people.

You know, right now it's just skyrocketing.

I was in Paradise, Prescott Valley, a couple of weeks ago at an elder care facility.

And those elders were scared because they were saying, we don't know what' going to happen in the next year if if they get sick, they ma become bankrupt because of what?

All these bills that have been robbed through Congress.

We need to stop that and make sure we have a national discussion about the future of health care in this country.

And let's talk about Medicare, because you're hearing from elders, you know, we're at a university here.

I hear from younger folks.

They're almost convinced that Medicare will simply not be around for them when they become of age.

I mean how do you convince these folks that the program will be elected?

What do you do to keep it alive?

Well, that's putting commonsense leaders in office here.

We have an opportunity, November 3rd throughout the country to put common sense leader.

Don't don't look at party politics.

And let's just make sure that there are people that are going to be elected into office that are going to advocate on our behalf.

People are scared about the future that's happening.

Young people, you know, they're there.

They can't afford a house right now, and they're living with their their family members.

We have to bring the costs of housing rent down so that folks could be able to live the American dream, to have the American dream an have a home and have a family.

But with those kinds of controls, not mess with the market and wind up going in the opposite direction.

We've seen rent control going the opposite directio in other parts of the country.

Well, we got to really think about where these tax breaks are going.

You know, you have folks that have multiple homes in various places, you know, and they're getting those tax breaks and harder, hard working people in this country are feeling the impact.

We need to flip that around.

We should be giving tax breaks to the hardworking people of this country.

That's going to improve the quality that's going to improve the economy.

And let's also say on day one, when we get into office, we got to stop that war in Iran because it's just making the cost of everything go up.

The last question real quickly here on day one, or maybe day ten, 2030.

What have you would you vote to impeach President Trump if the Democrats have power in the House?

Well, we have a lo more pressing issues right now.

Yes, accountability is very important.

And that's Democrats and Republicans.

If they did wrong we got to hold them accountable.

But right now, the American people, many of them are struggling throughout this country.

And we got to focus on the economy first.

Okay.

And then we'll be able to talk about, you know, these types of hearings will take time and it's not going to happen overnight.

But we got to hold those people accountable, especially thos that are in the Epstein files.

Right.

That would be on the back burner for you, but it would be something that you would consider.

Well, we got to talk about it.

I mean, we got to hold all people accountable who've done wrong.

You did the crime.

You do the time.

Jonathan Nez, again, candidate for Congressional District two, Democratic candidat for Congressional District two.

It's good to see you again.

Thank you so much for joining us and participating tonight.

All right.

Appreciate it.