Congressman Raúl Grijalva died in March after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. The 77-year-old championed issues spanning immigration and mining reform, to environmental justice and public lands conservation during his more than 20 years in office. Now, his death leaves big questions about what’s next for the southern Arizona district.
Grijalva was born in 1948 just south of Tucson to Mexican farmworkers who’d come to the U.S. under the Bracero program.
At a packed funeral service inside the St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez encapsulated that history by recounting a story Grijalva had recorded with his daughter, Marisa, more than a decade go, in 2009, as part of a StoryCorps interview archived in the Library of Congress.
It was about a time when he’d neglected to invite his mother to an award ceremony at his school. As Grijalva told his daughter in the interview, he was embarrassed because she couldn’t speak English, and all the other parents could.
As Ocasio-Cortez told funeral attendees last month, Grijalva’s mother found out about the award ceremony and eventually confronted him.
“She then told Raúl, mira mijito, no te olvides que naciste con nopal en la frente — Don’t forget, you were born with a nopal — a cactus leaf — on your forehead, and that’s you. That’s who you are, and you should never be embarrassed about it,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
In the StoryCorps interview, Grijalva said that moment shaped him.
“It’d been three months, this award ceremony’s over, and then I remember my mom telling me, como te fue el premio? And I went, woah, she knew. But, that’s all she said. Then a couple of days later, I’m getting ready in front of the mirror and she goes, ‘mira mijito, no te olvides que nacistes con un nopal en la frente,” Grijalva told his daughter Marisa in the 2014 interview. “That changed me a lot. I started to become more conscious of how people treated people, I started to become more conscious of a lot of political issues and so even in that sense, you know, your parents have an influence on you in an interesting way.”
Ocasio-Cortez said that idea — of remembering your roots — is what informed Grijlva’s work for the next decades. Both in D.C., and as a local activist, then politician, right here in Tucson.
“That was Raúl, siempre con el nopal en la frente — his cactus, and reminding us of ours too. May we all learn from his example,” she said.
Grijalva was at the helm of southern Arizona’s sprawling Congressional District 7 for over two decades. The district spans cross-border trade hubs like Nogales and agricultural hotspots like Somerton and San Luis, along with tribal nations and more than 350 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
At a vigil shortly after his death, in Tucson’s southside, hundreds of Grijalva’s longtime staffers, family and community members talked about continuing his legacy.
“We are environmentalists because of Raúl, so give it up to him, “ Long-time Tucsonan Cam Juarez told the crowd. “As a young Chicano, I didn’t really believe that the environment was important to us, because it was important to other people that didn’t look like us.”
Just like Grijalva’s family, Juarez’s parents came from Mexico to the U.S. as part of the Bracero program. He’s served on the governing board of the Tucson Unified School District and worked in various roles with Pima County.
Today, Juarez is a community engagement and outreach coordinator at Saguaro National Park. He spoke for this story in a personal capacity about his experience with Grijalva. And, just like Grijalva’s family, his parents came from Mexico to the U.S. as part of the Bracero program.
"Our stories are really intertwined. And we shared conversations like that every once in a while," he said.
Juarez even met his wife when they were both campaign volunteers for Grijalva’s first congressional run in 2002. He says he didn’t always see himself in the public land space, but Grijalva helped change that.
“He was the first person to make me comfortable with the notion that I was an environmentalist and a conservationist,” Juarez said. “He said, look, it's, it's not about the crunchy granola folks, you know, with the sandals and the backpacks. It's about how the environment affects us,” he said.
That’s a notion Juarez says he’s gone on to integrate into his own work.
“And that’s why I’m a park ranger, because I want to ensure that we not only have access to those places, but that people understand what those places mean, and why we need to protect them,” he said.
Juarez says he hopes that whatever comes next for Grijalva’s district, those values continue to be upheld.
So, what does that look like?
At another celebration of life event following Grijalva’s funeral, scores of community members filled the historic El Casino Ballroom in South Tucson. Elizabeth Soltero was born and raised in this part of town.
“I think for us here who are rooted here in Tucson, it’s really important that we get a local person that knows, who's rooted in community, to represent us, who is all about advocating to redirect funds to our most needed areas, and that includes the southside of Tucson,” she said.
Tucson sits at the heart of CD7. But it’s far from the only place where constituents are thinking about what’s next.
Zion White is a councilman for the Quechan Indian Tribe — a tribal nation near Yuma that sits just across the state line in California. The tribe is primarily in California, but has a small portion that's part of Congressional District 7. White says Grijalva worked with them frequently.
“Mr. Grijalva was very instrumental in making sure Indigenous peoples voices are heard, and that’s very important to be at the table for Indigenous people and tribes. And if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” he said. “So I think it’s important that we continue to have open and honest dialogue and conversations, nation-to-nation.”
A primary election for Grijalva’s predecessor will happen in July and the general election will follow in September.
