AZ Dem excoriates party on Israel as he launches bid for Congress
- Eric Descheenie, a former Navajo Nation politician, is challenging Jonathan Nez for the Democratic nomination in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.
- Descheenie criticizes Nez for being an "establishment Democrat" and for his stance on Israel.
- Nez, who lost to incumbent Republican Eli Crane in 2024, is considered the frontrunner in the 2026 primary.
A Democratic former state lawmaker is challenging the favored candidate in a northeastern Arizona congressional district, excoriating the party apparatus on the issue of Israel even as the odds of his victory appear slim.
Former state Rep. Eric Descheenie, a Navajo politician and advocate, is out of the gate portraying his opponent as overly responsive to the party’s political machinery.
“He is an establishment Democrat. I am not,” Descheenie said of Jonathan Nez, the 2024 nominee in the state's 2nd Congressional District.
Nez, a former Navajo Nation president who last year lost easily to incumbent Rep. Eli Crane, R-Arizona, remains the early frontrunner in the 2026 Democratic primary.
Nez reported having $64,000 on hand, compared with Descheenie’s $188, and has consolidated support from a long list of prominent Arizona Democrats, including U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, U.S. Reps. Yassamin Ansari and Greg Stanton, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Nez overperformed 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by several percentage points in the district, raising Democratic hopes that he could oust Crane during a friendlier election cycle. Those hopes are mostly hypothetical: In 2024, Nez lost to Crane by roughly 10 points.
“The families who are just trying to make ends meet, they don’t care about those statistics,” Descheenie said. “What they care about is: Can we live? Can we survive?”
Descheenie, who served as a tribal adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, describes himself as a “progressive." Born in Chinle, he has worked on tribal issues for the state, later worked in the Navajo Nation government, and eventually was elected in 2016 to the Arizona Legislature.
He passionately distanced himself from the Democratic Party apparatus on Israel.
“That is not a gray area. It’s not a war. It’s a genocide,” he said. “How we treat people really anywhere, whether they’re on the other side of the globe or next door, is a definitive mark as to what kind of candidate we are.”
The last few weeks have seen growing international ire over widespread hunger in Gaza. Two leading Israeli human rights groups have accused the country of committing genocide, though the Israeli government has strenuously contested the term. President Donald Trump has questioned Israeli officials’ denial that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis.
In late July 2025, a record number of Senate Democrats voted against resolutions, introduced by Sanders, I-Vermont, that would block U.S. arms sales to Israel. Gallego and Kelly were not among them.
Descheenie said he would not accept endorsements from either senator “for that reason alone, among others.”
His policy platform calls for aggressive action to combat climate change, the “authoritarian” threat posed by Trump, and the economic upheaval that artificial intelligence could cause.
Reached for comment, Nez's campaign didn't engage with Descheenie's criticisms, or answer a question about his position on Israel. Instead, campaign manager James Gravitt framed the election as a choice between Nez, "a son of rural Arizona who has delivered real results," and Crane, a "DC insider."
The Democratic primary election will take place in about a year, on Aug. 4, 2026.
The district is largely rural but includes the communities of Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott and Prescott Valley. It includes Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee and Navajo counties as well as parts of Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal and Yavapai counties.