Chris Deschene

Christopher L. Clark Deschene is an American politician, attorney, and energy development expert. A member of the Navajo Nation, Deschene was the Democratic Party's candidate for Secretary of State in Arizona in 2010, and served as a Department of Energy official in the Barack Obama administration. He was deployed on several missions overseas, including the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia.

His grandfather was a Navajo code talker during World War II.

Deschene served as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2009 to 2011, representing District 2. He was member of both the Committee for Natural Resources and Rural Affairs and the Committee for Water and Energy. Prior to his election to the legislature, he was the chair of the Apache County Democratic Party from 2007 to 2008 and the chair of the Native American Democratic Caucus. He lost the general election to Ken Bennett.

In the Navajo Nation presidential election of 2015, he ran for president of the Navajo Nation, getting second place in the primary and advancing to the run off, though he was later disqualified by the Navajo Nation Office of Hearings and Appeals for failing to show fluency in the Navajo language.

In June 2017, he joined Rosette, LLP as a partner in their Washington, D.C. office, where he practices energy law.

On July 27, 2026 he was announced by Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Crystalyne Curley as her running mate for the 2026 presidential election, running against Justin Jones and Emily Ellison. Jones was a lawyer representing candidate Hank Whitethorne, successfully overseeing Deschene's removal from the Navajo Nation presidential election in 2015.