Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Lynn Valbuena

No. 67 Lynn Valbuena

Lynn “Nay” Valbuena’s power and influence stretches beyond the Golden State. As the long-time leader of one of the most powerful gaming tribes in California — the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, also known as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians — Valbuena oversees not only the tribe’s wildly successful Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, located on its Southern California reservation, but also the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, which the tribe bought in 2021. That made San Manuel the first tribe to fully own and operate a Sin City casino, a milestone that continues to reverberate even as the Seminole Tribe of Florida currently erects a new Hard Rock casino, complete with a guitar-shaped tower, on the Las Vegas Strip. Valbuena’s leadership extends beyond gaming, however. She previously served as a delegate to the National Congress of American Indians and as a trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian. She currently chairs the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations or TASIN, an association of federally recognized tribal governments in Southern California.

Updated Aug. 11, 2026