Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva wins late father’s congressional seat in special election

PHOENIX – As expected, voters in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District chose Democrat Adelita Grijalva to fill her late father’s U.S. House seat during Tuesday’s special election.

She will serve the final 15 months of Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s 12th term in Congress after defeating Republican business owner Daniel Butierez and two third-party candidates.

The Associated Press called the race after the first batch of results showed Adelita Grijalva with an insurmountable lead.

As of 10 p.m., the Arizona Secretary of State website showed Grijalva with 70% (58,714) of the votes and Butierez with 28% (23,482).

“The voters of Southern Arizona sent the country a loud message tonight: we reject the MAGA agenda and we demand a Congress that will hold this administration accountable,” Grijalva said in a Tuesday night press release. “More than fifty years ago, my dad started a movement — unions, environmentalists, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA organizers and immigrant rights activists — united behind a common vision of justice, dignity and equity for all. Fifty years later, that movement is alive and well in all of us. This victory belongs to the people — el pueblo.”

Grijalva also thanked voters Tuesday night in an X post.

“We made history — juntos,” Grijalva said. “Now, let’s get to work!”

When she is sworn in, the Republican House majority will be trimmed to 219-214. Two more vacant seats – from a Democratic-leaning Texas district and a heavily Republican Tennessee district — will be filled later this year.

According to the press release, on her first day in office Grijalva plans to be the 218th signature on the petition to force a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

It also stated that her priorities during her term in congress will include advancing environmental justice, repealing President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff authority, protecting Medicaid and SNAP, defending public education and standing up for immigrant communities.

“It is the privilege of my life to represent this beautiful community,” Grijalva said. “Southern Arizona is sending a guerrera — a fighter — to Washington D.C. I will never forget who I am fighting for.”

The Arizona CD7 seat has been vacant since Raúl Grijalva died at age 77 on March 13 after a long battle with cancer.

Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-1 registration advantage over Republicans in the district, which spans most of the Arizona-Mexico border and reaches into six counties, including a sliver of the West Valley in Maricopa County.

What did Adelita Grijalva do before running for Congress?

Adelita Grijalva resigned from the Pima County Board of Supervisors weeks after her father’s death and declared her candidacy for his seat.

She previously worked at Pima County Teen Court for over 25 years and served on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.

Grijalva was endorsed by Arizona’s two Democratic U.S. senators as well as national progressive leaders such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she won July’s five-way Democratic primary with about 62% of the vote.

Butierez was the GOP nominee for a second consecutive CD7 race. Raúl Grijalva defeated him by nearly 27 percentage points in the 2024 general election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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