WINDOW ROCK

Jonathan Nez sprinted to the finish line and is now, at 43, the youngest person elected Navajo Nation president.

From the beginning, as numbers started to come in on Tuesday evening, Nez and his running mate Myron Lizer took the lead.

Candidate Joe Shirley Jr. and his running mate Buu Van Nygren just couldn’t catch up. The unofficial results in the race show Nez winning with 39,783 votes.

Shirley finished with 20,146. “We all got to come back as one,” said Nez to the huge crowd watching the results inside the Navajo Nation Museum.

“If you didn’t vote for us we just want to say, ‘Thank you to you, as well.’ But tomorrow let’s come back and unite as one.”