Eugenia Charles-Newton
Eugenia Charles-Newton is a Diné politician and lawyer who has served on the Navajo Nation Council for the Shiprock district since 2019. She is the first woman to represent Shiprock.
She was born and raised in Shiprock, New Mexico, as one of twelve children. Her clan affiliations are Bit’ahnii, born for ‘Áshįįhi, with additional ties to T ł ’ááshchí’í and Tábąąhá. Her family lived a ranching life without electricity or running water, and she spent much of her childhood caring for animals, often riding the family donkey.
Charles-Newton earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and English literature from Arizona State University in 2005, a law degree from the University of Kansas in 2008, and a master’s degree from the University of Arizona in 2009. She was admitted to the Navajo Nation Bar Association in 2017 and worked as a prosecutor, law librarian, and professor, publishing several scholarly papers.
In the 2018 Navajo Nation Council election, she defeated Vernon Roy Lee to represent Shiprock, with 1,588 votes to 822. She became one of three women on the 24th Navajo Nation Council, representing the Northern Agency. Her stated priorities include transparency, better public communication, and increasing citizen participation. She also chairs the Law and Order Committee, focusing on public safety and infrastructure for law enforcement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Charles-Newton helped secure hardship assistance payments for Navajo citizens, a move that faced significant council opposition and was described by her as one of the toughest political challenges she has faced.
In 2022 she announced a re-election bid for the Shiprock and Nataani Nez seats and expressed interest in becoming Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, a goal she pursued but did not win. In April 2023 she introduced legislation to remove Crystalyne Curley as speaker, citing concerns about communication and staff safety issues; Curley remained speaker and continued to work on topics like water rights.
As of 2022, she lives in Shiprock with her husband, Leroy Newton, running a farm and caring for a rescue donkey.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:56 (CET).