Jonathan Nez speaking to a crowd in Chinle, Ariz. (Photo/Levi Rickert)

Native Vote. Jonathan Nez, the former president of the Navajo Nation and current candidate for Arizona’s second congressional district issued the following statement on the re-opening of the federal government and Eli Crane hiking health care costs on Arizonans:

“The government may have reopened, but the damage from this manufactured shutdown is already being felt across rural Arizona. Our families have been left wondering how they would pay for groceries, gas, or their next doctor’s visit. All because extremists in Congress refused to do their jobs.

Congressman Eli Crane had every opportunity to stand with rural Arizona families and prevent a spike in health care costs. Instead, he sided with the same Washington politicians who held our government hostage and blocked efforts to keep insurance premiums affordable. Crane’s complacency comes months after he voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, a decision that could close at least three hospitals and kick more than 26,000 Arizonans in our district off their health care. That’s not representation; that’s betrayal. 

Arizonans deserve a representative who puts people over politics. Someone who will protect access to affordable health care and keep our government open. I’m running for Congress because our families deserve stability, common sense, and leadership that works for them, not against them.”

Go to campaign website.