Overview:
A Trump-aligned political action committee mistakenly used a photo of former Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer in an attack ad targeting Jonathan Nez, the Democratic congressional candidate challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.
Native Vote 2026
A political ad targeting former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez mistakenly used a photo of his former vice president, Myron Lizer.
Never Going Back PAC, a Trump-aligned political action committee, released an attack ad Friday targeting Nez, the Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District. Nez served as Navajo Nation president from 2019 to 2023, with Lizer as his vice president.
For voters in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, the distinction matters: Nez and Lizer are separate individuals with different political affiliations, despite their shared history in Navajo Nation government.
The PAC acknowledged the mistake and corrected and reposted the ad.
Nez is challenging far-right incumbent U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) in a closely contested race. An August poll, commissioned on behalf of the Nez campaign, showed Nez trailing Crane by two percentage points, with 10% of voters undecided. The poll also showed Nez leading among independent voters by 22 percentage points.
The Trump-aligned PAC is spending more than $650,000 on the race, according to The Washington Post.
The PAC’s photo mix-up follows another Republican blunder last week, when U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) falsely accused former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury, claiming phone records placed him at an Atlanta Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024. Smith corrected Schmitt, explaining he was 650 miles away in Maryland watching Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes play the Maryland Terrapins.
“No amount of money or failed attempts at smear ads against me will ever hide Crane’s record. Even Donald Trump can’t save Eli Crane (or bother to even fact check),” Nez said in response to the latest Republican blunder.
