Navajo Nation voters are choosing a president without a single pro-coal candidate on the ballot. It is a first in recent memory for a tribe whose economy has rested on coal for generations.
Incumbent Buu Nygren, who vowed to keep the reservation's last coal mine open, was knocked out in the primary along with 13 other contenders.
The two finalists, attorney Justin Jones and Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, have both distanced themselves from the industry. Jones, a former liaison for a coal mine in New Mexico, says he opposes extractive mining, while Curley argues coal will not return and the tribe needs a new plan.
Coal is dying. It's not coming back. So you do need an administration that will say, this is the new plan to move forward.
Crystalyne Curley, speaker of the Navajo Nation Council
An incumbent aligned with Trump
Nygren was a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. On coal, however, he sided with President Trump, who is undoing his predecessor's push to phase out the fuel.
In his annual address in January, Nygren pledged to keep the mine running along with the lone power plant it feeds. He pointed to hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tribal revenue, and noted that many residents in homes far from conventional grids still heat with coal.
Last year, Nygren took a selfie with Trump at the White House as the president signed an executive order aimed at saving the coal industry. Andrew Curley, a University of Arizona assistant professor who wrote a book on Navajo energy politics, said that hurt Nygren's reelection chances and that voters he spoke with were upset.
Andrew Curley, who is not related to the speaker, has campaigned for her after his own bid for the presidency ended in the primary. He called it a good sign that candidates on both sides now think about the land in terms of sustainability rather than extraction.
Voters living near the mine
Dailin Long, 44, lives near the remaining mine, which the Trump administration recently approved for expansion and which could displace his family. He has backed Nygren before but said he is glad the incumbent is off the ballot.
Our hope was that he would establish a legacy that speaks to our generation, and it seems that, unfortunately, he kind of just blended in with the status quo.
Dailin Long, Navajo Nation resident
Long said he hopes the finalists' positions on coal amount to more than campaign rhetoric, and that the tribe needs an energy policy that serves its people.
The tribe's coal ties reach well past the reservation. The Navajo Nation still owns and runs a large mining company with operations in Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.
