Eric Descheenie


Formerly a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, Eric Descheenie is a Democrat and current candidate for US Congress in Arizona’s 2nd congressional district. 
Eric was born in Tuba City, Arizona on the Navajo Nation in 1978. His family is originally from Chinle, Arizona. He has lived across multiple parts of the Phoenix valley since middle childhood. Descheenie attended Arizona State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in Sociology. In 2004, he began his career in public service with the Arizona Governor’s Office of Equal Opportunity under Governor Janet Napolitano. Following this, he became Tribal Liaison for the Arizona Department of Housing, managing the Governor's Tribal Housing Initiative and advocating for Native communities long overlooked by state leadership.
Eric has also served as the Director of Tribal Government Relations for the Navajo County Board of Supervisors. Additionally, he has held key positions with the Office of the Speaker and Office of the President and Vice President for the Navajo Nation. While in the Office of  the President and Vice President, Eric founded and co-chaired the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition that formally proposed to the White House the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah. On December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Presidential Proclamation establishing the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. 
In 2016, Eric was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives, serving from 2017 to 2018. His district included many of the communities now part of Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District. While in office, he became a leading voice for Native rights, education, and sustainable development.
In 2018, he served as a delegate to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2019, he spoke at Chiang Mai University in Thailand about how Indigenous Peoples are building inclusive, accountable, and peaceful societies. And in 2023, he joined an international exchange in Victoria, Australia, connecting with Indigenous leaders from the United States and New Zealand to share knowledge on protecting rivers and ancestral lands.
Eric has lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, with his three sons for the past 8 years—and he’s running for Congress to ensure every child, every family, and every community has the chance to live with dignity, a rooted life experience, and hope.
In August 2025, Descheenie announced a campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Arizona's 2nd congressional district in the 2026 election.

Elections

  • 2016 – Descheenie and Wenona Benally were unopposed in the Democratic Primary and the general election.
  • 2014 – Descheenie lost the District 7 senate Democratic primary to incumbent Carlyle Begay. Begay would later switch to the Republican Party in 2015.