From Tucson to Congress: It's Grijalva vs. Butierez again

Her two top opponents — Deja Foxx, a Gen-Z influencer, and Daniel Hernandez, a former state lawmaker — conceded less than an hour after early election results showed Grijalva with a sizable lead, about 62 percent of the early vote. She led Foxx by about 40 points when the Associated Press and other news outlets called the race Tuesday night.

She will face Daniel Butierez, a painting company owner who won the GOP primary with about 60 percent of the vote, in a Sept. 23 special election for heavily-Democratic district.

Speaking to supporters at a watch party Tuesday night, Grijalva said her campaign was about "the importance of giving voice to this community."

"It was not about social media likes. It was about knocking on doors, face-to-face with community members, having real conversations about what's important ... I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I am so thankful that my dad taught us all that this is how you do this work. This is how you get this done. And if you look at the results, that what that says," she said.

"Someone made me cry at least once a day, every day. And what it was is that, I would go up to doors, and people would say, 'your dad helped my dad,' or 'you came into my classroom and read to my kids.' I think being present in our community is important."

Ahead of results being released, Grijalva told the Star that while there are ups and downs in any race, this one was a little different.

"I've never run a race where I’m just like in mourning. So it's been an adjustment, that part . . . It's been very humbling. So many people have been so supportive,” Grijalva said.

After the results were clear, Grijalva imparted a lesson on her supporters that her dad gave her.

“You know, my dad said you have to hit the ground running, and you can cry later. So that's what we're going to do now," she said. "We're going to cry later, and I want to cry after I win, as my mom reminded me. So that would be September 23."

Eddie Barron, who volunteered for Grijalva, said the emotions swirling around her watch party “is fueled by community.”

“We were told that young people were not going to show up in this race, but we are seeing the numbers, and we are seeing that people who are who are rooted here, candidates who are rooted here, can win with a youth led coalition,” Barron said. “We were out every weekend, canvassing. We called. We were making phone calls until the polls closed. And there's so much excitement for what's happening right now, and this community should feel very proud of the person they just elected.”

Jenalyn Lazana, a National Guard veteran, said she is supporting Grijalva because she sees “hope and inspiration, and leadership and courage” in her.

Foxx collected about 21% of the vote.

She declined to talk to reporters at her midtown Tucson gathering of nearly 100 supporters and initially tried to deliver a concession speech via Zoom even though she was in another part of the property.

Foxx on Wednesday posted a statement on social media.

"While results aren’t what we hoped for — I couldn’t be prouder of what we built together," she wrote online. 

"For so many, this was your first time getting involved in politics—and let me tell you: you made a difference. You made calls, knocked doors, donated what you could. You believed in something bigger than yourself, you believed change was possible. That hope will carry on far past this election."

She went on to offer her support to Grijalva.

Before the result was known, supporter Kyle Brantley, a fellow with the Institute for Common Power, told the Star he flew into Arizona to help the Foxx campaign.

“I flew all the way from South Carolina here to knock on doors with Deja. In fact, me and a couple of my other colleagues flew all across the country to come here to knock on doors for Deja, to get out the vote to turn a new page on the old everlasting legacy of how one type of party, and we get a new page of a new progressive,” Brantley said.

“I support Deja because she brings a new breath of life into this party, to the Democratic Party, and she has proven time and time again that she's a fighter, that she's willing to fight for the things that we and that all of us as a community see as a basic human right,” said Brantley, one of dozens of people at Foxx’s results party.

Daniel Hernandez had about 14% of the vote. In a statement soon after the first results were posted, Hernandez congratulated Grijalva on her victory.

"I want to congratulate Adelita Grijalva on her victory tonight and encourage everyone who supported me to unite behind (her) in September," Hernandez said. "We must come together to protect Arizona from the extremism of the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress."

"The fight doesn’t end here. As a lifelong Arizonan, I’ll continue to work for the people of our state — for access to healthcare, strong public schools, and equal rights for all," he said.

Indigenous activist and scholar Jose Malvido Jr.; and retired health care executive Patrick Harris Sr. each collected less than 2% of the vote, the Arizona Secretary of State's election page showed.

Butierez wins GOP nod

Daniel Butierez easily won the three-candidate Republican primary. He collected nearly 61% of the vote.

Dozens of people attended Butierez's watch party at a restaurant on Tucson's south side. After getting through security, supporters found Delicias Mexican Grill draped in red, white and blue decorations. There was plenty of food and three cakes with “Hope,” “Unity” and “Community” inscribed on them.

Butierez, sporting an all-beige suit and cowboy hat, was confident well before the results started to roll in. He cited his cross-party appeal.

“There’s a whole lot of Democrats that align with Republicans and a whole lot of Republicans that align with Democrats," he said. "There's little differences that separate people."

"When I walked out of prison, it felt like I had walked into a bigger prison. What they did in prison was divide us by race, by religion," Butierez said. "So when I walked out of prison, I saw our government was doing the same thing to the people out here in the community that the prisons were doing to the inmates in prison . . . So I realized we got to bring everybody together, or we’re never going to get anything done."

Butierez told the Star ahead of results that Grijalva should win the Democratic primary because they're both locals.

“It should be the hometown boy against the hometown girl,” he said. “Deja, she’s not hispanic. She’s caucasian and Filipino. She's got no hispanic in her, and we’re 60% Hispanic, so that’s going to hurt her . . . but other than that she’s got a high IQ.”

Eric Neilson, attending the watch party, said that he was supporting Butierez because his story is different than most political candidates.

“If he wins, it’ll be better for the community and his constituents will get better service in Congress,” Neilson said. “Grijalva occupied that seat for 22 years. Don't know the guy, but, you know, he passed away, God bless his soul. But I know Democrats that didn’t like him. He just took care of his family, plus, he was voted the most left-wing progressive politician in all of Congress a few times. So we don't need that as a community. We're all Americans.”

Butierez beat Jimmy Rodriguez, an off-road vehicle businessman who collected about 25% of the vote, and Jorge Rivas, a restaurant owner, who received 14% of the vote.

Nearly 439,000 people are registered to vote in Congressional District 7, the Secretary of State’s election results page shows. As of Monday, 261,613 of those were in Pima County, according to the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

In Pima County, Democrats have a 2-1 majority compared to Republicans.

Of the 261,613 registered voters, 110,467 are Democrats and  54,323 are registered Republicans. But the second-largest voting bloc are in fact independent voters, of which there are 92,305.

Fewer than 70,000 votes were cast in Tuesday's primary, making voter turnout about 16%.