Democrat Adelita Grijalva wins special election for southern Arizona congressional seat

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PHOENIX (AP) — Southern Arizona voters on Tuesday chose Adelita Grijalva to succeed her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a progressive Democrat who represented the state for more than two decades in Congress.

She defeated Republican candidate Daniel Butierez in the 7th Congressional District, which hugs almost the entire length of Arizona’s border with Mexico. The decisive win — early returns showed Grijalva with more than double the number of votes as her Republican opponent — will make Grijalva the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress.

The seat was one of two remaining vacancies in blue districts that Democrats needed to hold to avoid losing more ground to Republicans in the U.S. House.

Grijalva thanked voters late Tuesday on social media, saying they made history together. “Now, let’s get to work.”

Grijalva retired from the Pima County Board of Supervisors and launched her bid for Congress shortly after her father's death in March. She said Tuesday he was the inspiration for her time in public service and a unifying figure among environmentalists, reproductive and immigrant rights advocates, and LGBTQ+ organizers who were seeking justice and equality.

“Fifty years later, that movement is alive and well in all of us,” she said in a statement. “This victory belongs to the people — el pueblo.”

Grijalva will serve the final months of her father's term.

Butierez told The Associated Press that he was puzzled by the results because of the bipartisan turnout at his watch party but not bothered because he didn't aspire to be a politician. Butierez, who owns a painting company, lost to Raúl Grijalva in 2024. This time around, he campaigned on border security and addressing homelessness, an issue with which he had personal experience.

Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans in the mostly Hispanic district. Much of the region has been represented by Democrats since Arizona first became a state in 1912.

Earlier Tuesday, friends and family of Adelita Grijalva gathered at a well-known events center in Tucson to await the results, with music and food. Speakers addressed the crowd both in English and Spanish.

Grijalva voiced support for limiting immigration operations, protecting health care and advocating for environmental justice. She said she would find ways to help take power away from President Donald Trump so he could not unilaterally decide on imposing tariffs.

“There’s an opportunity for us to try to convince people that who they need to represent is the people that elected them and their community and not billionaires and corporations," Grijalva told reporters at her watch party Tuesday night.

Grijalva’s victory improves Democrats' chances of forcing a vote on making the Justice Department release case files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement. Grijalva pledged to sign the petition to force a vote on the files.

___ Associated Press journalist Ross D. Franklin in Tucson contributed to this story.