Adelita Grijalva wants Arizona to know she isn’t establishment—and she has the receipts

For 23 years, Rep. Raúl Grijalva served Arizona’s seventh congressional district, championed progressive values, and spoke out against social, racial, and economic injustice. But on March 13, 2025, he lost the battle to lung cancer, leaving his seat in the US House open.

Now, his daughter, Adelita Grijalva, is the Democratic frontrunner in the special election which aims to fill his spot.

However, Grijalva chafes at the idea that she’s part of some political dynasty and just some  establishment Democrat — a critique she’s faced from one of her primary opponents, 25-year-old activist and social media content creator Deja Foxx.

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The term, she said, “is sort of discounting any contribution of mine, but really discounting my father’s contribution as well,” in an interview with The Copper Courier. “I ascribe to a servant leadership model.”

Grijalva considers herself an unapologetic progressive with over two decades of public service in her own right. If elected, she would be the first Latina to ever represent Arizona in Congress.

“I feel like this is an opportunity for southern Arizona to continue to have a strong voice for southern Arizona, not for Adelita Grijalva to have a spotlight,” she said. “Grijalva and establishment have never been used in the same sentence until this last month and a half,” she said. 

Many members of the community as well as local officials stand with Grijalva. They explain that she truly is a champion of district seven. To the southern Arizona community, the Grijalva name isn’t associated with political establishment—it’s the embodiment of decades of public service, deep commitment to community and grassroots organizing, and the steadfast support of the not-always-popular progressive side of the Democratic Party. 

“I see them as just as leaders in our community versus an establishment,” said César Fierros, communications director for grassroots political organization, Living United for Change in Arizona. “It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of her and her family’s contributions to southern Arizona.”

While her father served in Congress, Grijalva spent 20 years on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board, where she was first elected at 29, overlapping with her 25 years at a non-profit Juvenile Court diversion program and another four years on the Pima County Board of Supervisors. 

Experience, particularly based inside the district, and long-held community roots matter, said Antonio Ramirez, political and policy director for Rural Arizona Action, a grassroots political organization that has endorsed Adelita. Ramirez is also a resident of CD7, where he’s grown up on the Hopi reservation and in Tucson.

“[Adelita has] been firmly rooted in our community for decades, and she’s like the fully mature tree whose shade and fruit significantly benefits our community,” Ramirez said in an interview. 

READ MORE: Opinion: Arizona needs real fighters, not progressive cosplayers

When people call Adelita Grijalva a legacy politician, that discounts the grassroots legacy she has made for herself, said Tucson Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, who has been involved in southern Arizona politics for over two decades. They have been working alongside Grijalva in the community for years. 

“She has a track record, but it’s not just ‘I can speak to the issues,’ she’s shown that she can do it, and she stands by it,” they said.

Grijalva has garnered more endorsements than anyone else in the race, including the entire Tucson City Council and mayor, more than a dozen labor unions, a number of U.S. House Representatives, and both Arizona Senators, Democrats Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.

She currently leads in the polls, trailed by Foxx, former state lawmaker Daniel Hernandez, Indigenous activist Jose Malvido Jr., and former health care executive Patrick Harris Sr. 

The primary election will be held July 15 with the general election in September.

“I also think it’s a disservice to voters to suggest that they are only going to vote for anyone because of their last name,” Grijalva said. “No one has been handed anything in this race. We’re all making the best case to voters, and at the end of the day, the voters are going to decide.”