Arizona votes to send its first Latina to Congress

Adelita Grijalva is projected to win a special election for the U.S. House seat previously held by her father, Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March. 

Grijalva’s victory marks the first time Arizona has voted to send a Latina to Congress, where Latinas remain underrepresented. Her election marks a milestone for Latinx political power in this crucial battleground state, where Latinx voters make up a quarter of all eligible voters. 

Latinas — who make up 1 in 5 women voters in Arizona —  play a critical role for Democrats. They register and turn out at higher rates than Latinx voters overall and they tend to favor the party by larger margins than Latino men.

“It’s very humbling. It is a huge honor and a huge responsibility,” Grijalva said in an interview with The 19th earlier this month. “I want people to see me in these positions and say, ‘If she can do it, I can do it’ and push for change in their own communities.”

Grijalva is projected to defeat Republican nominee Daniel Butierez, a contractor and small business owner, in what is a safe seat for Democrats. Still, two counties within the 7th District, which covers almost the entirety of Arizona’s border with Mexico, saw significant shifts toward the GOP in the last presidential election. Heading into the midterms and possibly beyond, Grijalva could have a key role as a Democratic messenger to the state’s Latinx voters. 

About 60 percent of residents and 52 percent of voters in the district are Latinx, according to UCLA’s Latino Data Hub. Grijalva’s supporters see the Tucson native as someone who will take a progressive stance on reproductive rights and immigrants’ rights at a time when both are under attack. 

Grijalva became the Democrats’ nominee after fending off a challenge from Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old reproductive rights activist who captured the attention of young progressives through her social media outreach. 

Grijalva said in an interview that she hoped to carry on with her father’s legacy of environmental protection work, but made clear she has her own priorities heading into Congress — some informed by her identity as a woman and mother. 

“The issues that I feel I’m going to want to champion are different. I want universal preschool,” she said. “I want people to keep their hands off of reproductive health.”