Raul Grijalva died March 13th after a battle with lung cancer. The 12 term Congressman was first elected to the United States House in 2002.
Grijalva’s daughter, Adelita Grijlava, is now one of five Democratic candidates to replace him in the House.
Adelita Grijalva served on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board for 20 years and on the Pima County Board of Supervisors since 2020. She recently resigned her post to run for Congress.
If Grijalva wins, she will be the first Latina elected to Congress from Arizona.
Grijalva stopped by the KAWC studios April 11th to talk about her decision to run for her father’s seat, the issues she thinks matter most to voters, and how she plans to mobilize and inspire Yuma County Democrats.
Adelita Grijlava is one of five Democrats running in the CD7 primary. The others are content creator and Gen Z candidate Deja Foxx, businessman Patrick Harris, former state representative Daniel Hernandez, and Native American advocate Jose Malvido Jr.
On the Republican side there are three candidates – Daniel Butierez is a small business owner from Tucson who ran against Grijalva in 2024, Jorge Rivas, a naturalized American who fled El Salvador’s civil war as a child, and Tucsonan Jimmy Rodriguez.
Write in candidates include Libertarian Andy Fernandez, Green Party candidate Gary Swing, and No Labels candidate Richard Grayson.
Two general election write-in candidates are also listed on the General Election page at the Arizona Secretary of State’s office – they are independent Trista DiGenova, and Daniel Wood, who lists no party affiliation.
The primary election is July 15th, The General Election is September 23rd.
Portions of this interview will air on KAWC Arizona Edition broadcast April 18th.
