If Hillary Clinton pulls off a victory in Arizona next month, Democrats believe it will be due in part to one of the red state’s key voting blocs: Native Americans.



The campaign has worked for months to win support in Navajo Nation, the Native American territory with the largest population of not just any in the state, but the country. On Friday, Clinton secured the endorsement of the territory’s president, Russell Begaye, in what has been an aggressive effort to engage the 100,000 Navajo Nation members who live in Arizona and could sway the vote against Donald Trump.

“Tribal communities have swung a lot of elections in Arizona,” said Charlie Galbraith, a member of Navajo Nation and a political adviser to both the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. “In an election that will be razor thin, getting out the vote in Navajo Nation could turn the state blue.”

Approximately 25% of Arizona is native land, with a total of 22 tribes making up about 10% of the state’s population, Navajo Nation being the largest and most politically active. Of the 160 organizers now in Arizona for the DNC and the campaign, a Clinton official said, 25 are dedicated to tribal communities.

Galbraith helped facilitate the Begaye endorsement. “We’d been working on this one for a long time,” he said, adding that only rarely does Navajo Nation’s president weigh in on an election. (The endorsement is from Begaye himself, not the nation as a whole, which would require a vote of the tribal council, according to Galbraith.)

Over the weekend, Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez also endorsed Clinton during a Democratic Party bus tour through the region in Arizona and New Mexico, part of a DNC-led series of get-out-the-vote trips through the country, making stops at field offices, churches, universities, and community centers.

Native American support could make the difference in a state like Arizona. The campaign has studied races like Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick’s in 2012, where on reservations she won by a margin of 28,000 votes, a Clinton official said.



Members of the Clinton team said they had yet to observe much outreach on the part of the Trump campaign to Native American communities in Arizona or elsewhere.

“As far as I know, they’ve made no effort to engage Indian country,” said Galbraith.

During the Democratic primary, while Bernie Sanders struggled with black and Latino voters, he campaigned fiercely for Native American voters. (He was a guest in the “Tribal Suite” at the Democratic National Convention this summer, visiting with tribal leaders from Arizona, New Mexico, and California.)

Clinton aides said they see Sanders as a key validator with members of Navajo Nation. His visit last week to Arizona was geared toward Native American voters in Flagstaff, an official said. (Sanders devoted a sizable share of his time to the Arizona primary this spring, though he lost by nearly 18 points.)