Before she agreed to run as Justin Jones's second-in-command, Navajo Nation vice-presidential candidate Emily Ellison says other presidential hopefuls had already come calling, asking her to join their tickets. She turned them down, choosing Jones instead because, as she put it, their platforms and goals for the Navajo Nation lined up.
Ellison sat down with ABC15 for a one-on-one interview as the station continues its coverage of the Navajo Nation presidential race, with reporter Nick Ciletti airing more of his conversation with Jones and Ellison midweek after showing part of his interview with rival ticket Crystalyne Curley and Chris Deschene. Per ABC15, Ellison said other presidential candidates had previously asked her to consider being their running mate before she settled on Jones. She told the station her primary objective is what is best for the Navajo people.
A Three-Time Candidate Settles Into a New Role
Ellison is no newcomer to the ballot. She previously ran for Navajo Nation president in 2018 and in 2022, making her a three-time presidential candidate, according to ICT News. This cycle, she finished 13th in the July 21 primary with 397 votes, or 0.82% of votes cast, according to the Navajo Times, which also reported that she hails from Chichiltah, New Mexico. Jones led that 16-candidate field with 15,039 votes, or 31.04% of votes cast, while Jones and Speaker Crystalyne Curley advanced to the Nov. 3 general election.
Jones announced Ellison as his running mate on July 27, days after the primary, during an event in Rock Point Valley, Arizona, per the same Navajo Times report. He said he and Ellison have similar platforms, telling ABC15 that she brings education and experience in governmental positions to the ticket. Jones also said she is grounded in Navajo culture and the Navajo language, adding that he lives that culture and language every day himself.
From the Peace Corps to Domestic Violence Advocacy
Ellison's resume outside politics centers on Battered Families Services, a nonprofit where she serves as executive director. ABC15 describes her as the director of a domestic violence resource center. Before that work, Ellison served as an education volunteer in China with the Peace Corps and was honored by the organization in 2014, according to ICT News.
Ellison told the Navajo Times that she and Jones have run on the same platform since 2022 — “Fix the government” — and that their ticket wants to make Navajo Nation government transparent and functional while protecting sovereignty and water. Jones also lives Navajo culture and language every day, according to ABC15's interview.
Policy Priorities
Ellison's current platform emphasizes government reform, with a focus on restoring public trust, the Navajo Times reported when the ticket first came together. The ticket has also pledged to build out communities with roads, electricity and broadband, favoring planned communities over scattered homesites, and promised free tuition at Navajo Technical University and Diné College.
Facing Off Against Curley and Deschene
The Jones-Ellison ticket faces Curley, who tapped Chris Deschene as her own running mate, according to ICT News. Deschene is a Marine Corps veteran, engineer and attorney who previously served as an Arizona state lawmaker. The two tickets debated at Navajo Technical University on Sept. 25, a student-organized forum at the school's Wellness Center that was broadcast on KCZY 107.3 FM and YouTube, less than six weeks before the general election, the Navajo Times reported.
Absentee voting for the Nov. 3 general election began Oct. 5, according to ICT News. Ellison's path to the vice presidency now runs through the ticket she chose over other presidential hopefuls who had courted her, with voters set to decide on Nov. 3.
