In a special primary election to determine candidates to replace the late Raúl Grijalva in southern Arizona, the congressman’s daughter, Adelita Grijalva, has won Democratic nomination, according to a race call by the Associated Press.
Grijalva faced a five-way race for the party’s nomination in left-leaning 7th Congressional District, where the Democratic nominee is widely expected to win the special general election on Sept. 23 to determine who will serve the remainder of Raúl Grijalva’s two-year term.
CD7 covers a wide swath of Arizona, stretching from Yuma to Bisbee and encompassing much of Tucson and parts of the West Valley. The district spans five Arizona counties: Cochise, La Paz, Maricopa, Pima and Yuma.
The AP called the race shortly after 8 p.m., when an initial batch of results showed Grijalva in the lead with 62% of the vote.
Gen Z activist and social media influencer Deja Foxx was a distant second, followed by former state lawmaker Daniel Hernandez, who conceded the race in a statement.
As for Republicans, the AP called a three-way race for the GOP nomination for Daniel Francis Butierez Sr., though he’ll be an underdog come September.
A full unofficial tally of the primary results won’t be available for several days.
Raúl Grijalva passed away in March from complications following cancer treatment.
Supports of Adelita Grijalva cheered as the race was called in her favor Tuesday at Tucson’s El Casino Ballroom. It’s the site of many of her father’s events. And where his supporters said goodbye.
"And of course the saddest event that we’ve ever been here, however you want to define that, was Raul’s celebration of life," said Cam Juarez, who served with Adelita Grijalva on the Tucson school board and campaigned for her this year.
"And to celebrate again, here, at the Casino Ballroom, it’s historic," Juarez said.
Throughout the campaign, Adelita Grijalva embraced her family’s roots in the district and said in a debate that she “learned from the best” — her dad.
“This is a victory not for me, but for our community and the progressive movement my dad started in Southern Arizona more than 50 years ago,” Grijalva said.
Grijlava pledged to take on “corporate greed” and work to lower the cost of living, protect programs like Medicare, defend public education and fight for “humane immigration policies.”
“I would go up to doors and people would say your dad helped my dad or you came into my classroom and read to my kids. I think being present in our community is important and people don't forget that,” she said in an election night speech. “I stand on the shoulders of giants,” she said.
Grijalva served as chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors until resigning to run to succeed her father in Congress.
Hernandez is a longtime Tucson-area lawmaker who served in the state Legislature, experience he leaned on while trying to distinguish himself as a candidate who could work across the aisle with Republicans in Washington. During primary debates, he was also the only Democratic candidate to say he supports mining projects in the district.
Hernandez issued a concession statement on Tuesday night and urged his supporters to unite behind Grijalva.
“We must come together to protect Arizona from the extremism of the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress,” Hernandez said. “The fight doesn’t end here.”
Foxx aimed to set herself apart from Grijalva and Hernandez, painting herself as the future of the party who would bring new leadership to the district. And she criticized Grijalva and Hernandez as establishment candidates with inherited donor lists.
Two other Democratic candidates, Patrick Harris and Jose Malvido Jr., were considered longshots and did not file campaign finance reports about their fundraising efforts.
The relatively low-turnout special primary election seemed to go off without a hitch. At a Tuesday morning press briefing in Tucson, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his office had received reports of almost no issues.
Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly said the special election may have been unexpected for many CD7 voters, who had just elected Raúl Grijalva to another term less than nine months ago.
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