The Rural Arizona Project began in 2020 as the sister program of the Rural Utah Project (RUP), a non-profit formed with the goal of electing a Democratic and Navajo majority to the San Juan County Commission in Utah. ¹ RUP field director Tara Benally led the Rural Arizona Project, and the programs registered roughly 6,000 mostly Navajo voters in Utah and Arizona before the 2020 election. TIME magazine and the New York Times credited the Rural Arizona Project with helping swing the presidential election in Arizona in the favor of the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. ^{2 3}

The Rural Arizona Project is not its own 501(c)(4), but rather it receives its funds through RUP. The Rural Utah Project has received funding from various center-left and left-of-center organizations, including at least $400,000 from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a left-of-center environmentalist organization that supports the Green New Deal and opposes conventional energy production. ^{4 5 6}

The social media for the Rural Arizona Project has far less reach than the social media for the Rural Utah Project, and it has been less active than RUP’s social media since the conclusion of the 2020 election. ^{7 8}

Founding and History

The Rural Utah Project started in late 2017 after a federal judge declared that county commission districts in San Juan County, Utah disenfranchised Native American voters and ordered them redrawn. ⁹ After redistricting, the Rural Utah Project set out to elect an “Indigenous majority” to the commission. ¹⁰

In 2018, the Rural Utah Project spent $203,241 on voter registration and county organizing efforts. ¹¹ RUP’s efforts succeeded in electing a Democratic and Navajo majority to the San Juan County Commission. ¹² One of the new commissioners that RUP helped elect was Kenneth Maryboy, the brother of Mark Maryboy, a member of the board of trustees of RUP. The Rural Utah Project failed to properly make voters aware of this conflict of interest. ¹³

In 2020, RUP formed the Rural Arizona Project. ¹⁴ Led by RUP field director Tara Benally, the Rural Arizona Project expanded RUP’s voter registration efforts to members of the Navajo Nation residing in Arizona. ^{15 16} The programs registered almost 6,000 voters total in Utah and Arizona before the 2020 election. TIME magazine and the New York Times credited RUP’s efforts with helping the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win Arizona. ^{17 18}

Political Activism

The Rural Arizona Project is not a separate 501(c)(4) from the Rural Utah Project, though it is unclear precisely how much of RUP’s budget went toward supporting the Rural Arizona Project. The Rural Utah Project has received funding from various center-left and left-of-center environmentalist and education organizations, including $400,000 from the Southern Utah Wilderness Organization, an organization that supports the radical environmentalist Green New Deal. ^{19 20} Other notable RUP funders include the Arizona Advocacy Foundation, the Denver Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the Movement Voter Project, the National Congress of American Indians, and the National Education Association. ²¹ The Rural Utah Project also receives individual donations through Act Blue, the online fundraising platform for left-wing organizations and candidates. ²²

Tara Benally has served as the chair of the Native American Caucus for the Utah Democratic Party. ²³

1. “Our Work.” Rural Utah Project. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://ruralutahproject.org/work/.
2. Villa, Lissandra and Vera Bergengruen. “Meet Some of the Supporters Who Helped Deliver the Election to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” Time. December 13, 2020. December 12, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://time.com/5920880/voters-joe-biden-kamala-harris/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29.
3. “NYTimes: Native Americans Helped Flip Arizona. Can They Mobilize In Georgia?” Rural Utah Project. December 7, 2020. Accessed March 17, 2021. https://ruralutahproject.org/2020/12/nytimes-native-americans-helped-flip-arizona-can-they-mobilize-in-georgia/.
4. “About SUWA.” Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://suwa.org/about-suwa/
5. RUP, Inc Form 990. 2017. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/821603888/03_2019_prefixes_81-84%2F821603888_201712_990O_2019030816161334.
6. RUP, Inc Form 990. 2018. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/821603888/02_2020_prefixes_81-82%2F821603888_201812_990O_2020020617120830.
7. “Rural Arizona Project.” Instagram.com. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://www.instagram.com/ruralarizonaproject/?hl=en.
8. “Rural Utah Project.” Instagram.com. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://www.instagram.com/ruralutahproject/.
9. Betancout. Mark. “Native Americans just made history in this Utah country.” Vice. November 7, 2018. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/59vzjz/native-americans-just-made-history-in-this-utah-country.
10. “Our Work.” Rural Utah Project. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://ruralutahproject.org/work/.
11. RUP, Inc Form 990. 2018. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/821603888/02_2020_prefixes_81-82%2F821603888_201812_990O_2020020617120830.
12. Betancout. Mark. “Native Americans just made history in this Utah country.” Vice. November 7, 2018. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/59vzjz/native-americans-just-made-history-in-this-utah-country.
13. Stevens, Taylor. “I’m sure it’s a culture shock for most of you’: Navajos take the majority on the San Juan County Commission.” The Salt Lake Tribune. January 7, 2019. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/01/07/san-juan-county/.
14. “The Rural Arizona Project.” Facebook.com. Accessed March 20, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/The-Rural-Arizona-Project-107305041003990/?ref=page_internal.
15. “How Native American Voters Have Affected Election Results.” NPR. November 6, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/932215037/how-native-american-voters-have-affected-election-results.
16. Benally, Tara. “Registering Voters on the Navajo Nation.” The Forge. October 19, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2021. https://forgeorganizing.org/article/registering-voters-navajo-nation.
17. Villa, Lissandra and Vera Bergengruen. “Meet Some of the Supporters Who Helped Deliver the Election to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” Time. December 13, 2020. December 12, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://time.com/5920880/voters-joe-biden-kamala-harris/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29
18. “NYTimes: Native Americans Helped Flip Arizona. Can They Mobilize In Georgia?” Rural Utah Project. December 7, 2020. Accessed March 17, 2021. https://ruralutahproject.org/2020/12/nytimes-native-americans-helped-flip-arizona-can-they-mobilize-in-georgia/.
19. RUP, Inc Form 990. 2017. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/821603888/03_2019_prefixes_81-84%2F821603888_201712_990O_2019030816161334.
20. RUP, Inc Form 990. 2018. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/821603888/02_2020_prefixes_81-82%2F821603888_201812_990O_2020020617120830.
21. “Digital Organizing & Impact: 2020 Election.” Rural Utah Project. Accessed March 20, 2021. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uTuSyu6qxBZY7L3-DXSwgvAeuxDBGWM-/view.
22. “Donate to RUP, Inc.” ActBlue. Accessed March 19, 2021. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/rup–inc–1.
23. “Native American Caucus.” Utah Democratic Party. Accessed March 22, 2021. https://utahdemocrats.org/our-dems/native-american-caucus/.