TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Mail ballots go out Wednesday in the special election to fill the Congressional seat left vacant by the death of Congress member Raul Grijalva.
In the prickly world of politics there is a rare open seat in Congress for our part of the Arizona desert. Congressional District 7 was left vacant by the death of Raul Grijalva after 22 years in that seat. Now his daughter Adelita Grijalva is working on making her own path to Congress.
Opponents have tried to paint Adelita Grijalva as hoping to inherit her father’s seat in Congress. She has been elected to the same local positions Raul Grijalva held: the Tucson Unified School District Board, and the Pima County Supervisors but she says those jobs built 22 years of her own independent experience.
“When I get there, the needs are different. The situation is different. How we have to address problems is different, because the problems are different. I can't replicate, you know, 70 plus years of lived history. I can only go with my history in this community.”
WATCH KGUN 9's FULL INTERVIEW WITH ADELITA GRIJALVA BELOW:
She says if elected to Congress she will fight what she sees as parts of democracy under attack.
“And part of that is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, obviously, public education and protecting our environment and protecting and making things affordable for working families. Right now, there's so many that are feeling very much attacked and vulnerable right now, our immigrant communities, our DACA students.”
Grijalva says campaigning, and if elected she will draw on her Tucson roots and tap into the wide range of people who live in a Congressional district that covers a lot of ground in Arizona.
“I think that it's interesting to note that there are six different counties in CD Seven, several tribes and tribal lands that are important for us to also represent, and communities that are more urban, like Tucson and more rural, like Yuma and some other areas there.”
Because this is a special election to fill a vacant seat, whoever wins will face another election in less than a year: the primary for the midterms in 2026.
