(C) Arizona Mirror
This story was originally published by Arizona Mirror and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Former state Rep. Eric Descheenie enters race for Arizona’s largest congressional district [1]
['Shondiin Silversmith', 'Jerod Macdonald-Evoy', 'More From Author', '- August', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img']
Date: 2025-08-01
Former Arizona State Rep. Eric Descheenie has joined the race for U.S. Congress in Arizona’s largest district, where he will face off against former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Rep. Eli Crane.
“It’s time to do what I’ve always done, and that is to do my part in advocating for what’s right, particularly from a Diné perspective,” Descheenie told the Arizona Mirror about his candidacy.
Descheenie said he started thinking about running for Congress in December 2024, when people in the Flagstaff area urged him to run. He filed to run for Congress in May.
The Second Congressional District stretches from south of Phoenix to the borders of New Mexico to the east and Utah to the north, encompassing much of eastern and northern Arizona.
“The district is amazing because you can go from one community to the next and the demographics will change,” he said. “I think that each one of those communities has something profound to offer.”
The district covers about 60% of Arizona, and tribal land makes up a large portion of that area, but it is sparsely populated.
The district includes 14 tribal nations, with Indigenous people making up about 20% of the district’s total population.
The district was redrawn in 2021 during the once-a-decade redistricting process to include heavily GOP Yavapai County, and Republicans have a strong registration advantage as a result.
The redrawn district gave the GOP a seven-point edge, a stark difference from the nearly evenly split district it replaced.
Descheenie said he is not running so he could be the first Native American to have a seat in Congress from Arizona, but rather, he sees a problem and it needs solving.
He said there are chronic issues that the people of CD2 badly need to be resolved, such as access to water, affordable housing, healthcare and more.
Based on the current philosophy of leaders, policy strategies and models of politics within the district, Descheenie said these issues are not going to be fixed anytime soon.
“We have to ask ourselves, what have we been doing and how should we be doing those things differently?” he said.
Through his experience in government over the last 20 years at the state, tribal, county and federal levels, Descheenie said he is capable of bringing in something different.
“As a Diné (Navajo) man, I see a different future: one that puts people and decency first and treats our neighbors and families as they should be treated,” his website states. “One that prioritizes basic human rights such as universal healthcare, a livable wage, affordable housing, fully funded public education and adequate and clean drinking water.”
Descheenie is originally from Chinle, but grew up in the Phoenix area. He now lives in Flagstaff with his three sons.
He was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2016 and served a single term. He said he chose not to run for reelection to focus on raising his three sons.
“ I could not see myself missing those years that you just don’t get back,” he said. Now, his oldest son has graduated from high school.
“He’s now entering into this world that has got a lot of threats, got a lot of volatility,” Descheenie said.
As his children enter adulthood, Descheenie said he can see that the world they’re entering is far worse than when he was their age.
“We have a very present climate crisis, a developing authoritarian regime led by oligarchs, and an artificial intelligence revolution taking shape, as we speak,” he said. “These are all unprecedented, serious threats we are all having to shoulder, and I believe I can do something about it.”
Descheenie said he wants to be able to connect with the people in CD2 on a level where they can understand each other beyond party lines and have deeper conversations about the issues that impact them all.
“Human to human as opposed to Democrats or Republicans,” he added.
Descheenie said he has observed Crane’s tenure in office — he was first elected in 2022 — and how he openly aligns with the far-right and Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, which Descheenie said often derails important conversations in an unproductive way.
“ I don’t anticipate him problem-solving any of our real chronic issues anytime soon,” Descheenie said.
He pointed to Crane’s decision to vote in favor of Trump and the GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which included cuts to Medicaid and food stamps to pay for tax cuts for businesses and wealthy Americans.
“It’s so upside down that I’m still waiting for him to justify it,” Descheenie said. “Jobs in rural Arizona are few and far between and people need food security, and he voted the direct opposite of how he should have.”
Descheenie said he listened in on Crane’s recent virtual town hall meeting, where he told his constituents that there were too many people on those benefit programs that shouldn’t be.
“ That’s not an excuse, that’s not a justification — that is a pathetic attempt to justify an abhorrent vote,” he added. “That’s not leadership. That’s being cruel.”
As for his fellow Democratic candidate, Descheenie said that Nez has been pretty consistent in his form of politics.
“We all know what to expect from Jonathan,” Descheenie said, noting how Nez lost his reelection for Navajo Nation president and his first bid to Congress in 2024.
Descheenie said that Nez lost to Crane by nine points, which is “worse” than when former Rep. Tom O’Halloran lost his seat in 2022 by eight points.
“I can’t expect him to do anything different this go around,” he added. “And that’s why I don’t have the confidence that he’s the best candidate in this race.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://azmirror.com/2025/08/01/former-state-rep-eric-descheenie-enters-race-for-arizonas-largest-congressional-district/
Published and (C) by Arizona Mirror
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/azmirror/
