Adelita Grijalva wins Arizona Democratic primary for late father’s seat in Congress : NPR
Adelita Grijalva has won the Democratic nomination for a congressional district in Arizona held by her father, the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who held the seat for 20 years until he died in March.
SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
Now to Arizona, where Adelita Grijalva has won the Democratic primary and a special election for a congressional seat there. The Southern Arizona district was represented by her father, the late Congressman Raul Grijalva, for 20 years. He died from complications from lung cancer in March. Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree has more on his daughter’s campaign to fill his shoes.
HANNAH CREE, BYLINE: Energy was high in a crowded ballroom in South Tucson after initial results showed Adelita Grijalva with a comfortable lead in the five-way Democratic primary.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And Adelita leading by over 18,000 votes.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Check it out.
CREE: The race between front-runners Grijalva and 25-year-old influencer Deja Foxx became the most competitive in the district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1. Although Foxx gained significant support on social media, 54-year-old Grijalva said her campaign was also able to reach young voters.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: We need to focus on making sure that young people feel valued – when we say that we want young people as part of the decision-making process, that they’re welcomed. And that was one thing that we did in this campaign, which is why I think it was so successful.
CREE: The district stretches across nearly 350 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico. Grijalva has made immigration and protecting access to Medicaid central parts of her campaign. She’ll face off against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez. He owns a painting company and is backed by Donald Trump. Even in a blue district, he says people want change from the late Grijalva’s legacy of over two decades in Congress.
DANIEL BUTIEREZ: We’ve got a homeless crisis. We’ve got a drug pandemic. They might not align with me. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. But let’s fix the things that I can fix.
CREE: Adelita Grijalva is a former county supervisor and school board member. And supporters like Lupita Tineo say the district values the late congressman’s progressive legacy of environmental justice and immigration reform.
LUPITA TINEO: You’re talking about one of the only congressmen that represented Indigenous people, LGBTQ people, immigrants, protected land. I mean, this man had a heart for everything.
CREE: Whoever wins the special general election in September will serve the remainder of the two-year congressional term.
For NPR News, I’m Hannah Cree in Tucson, Arizona.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERIK ENOCKSSON’S “THE JOY OF D.H. LAWRENCE”)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Source link
