Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a champion of environmental protections and progressive beliefs who took up principled however typically futile causes throughout a two-decade profession in Congress, died Thursday.
Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the Home Pure Sources Committee throughout his 12 phrases representing southern Arizona, a strong perch he used to form the nation’s environmental insurance policies. He was identified for defending the rights of immigrants and Native People, and for the bolo tie he wore at dwelling in Tucson and within the Capitol in Washington.
Grijalva died of problems from most cancers therapy, his workplace mentioned in a press release. The remedies had sidelined him from Congress in current months.
“From completely defending the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Reasonably priced Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have all the time been guided by group voices,” Grijalva’s workplace mentioned in a press release.
One other Democratic Home member, Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas, died final week from well being points.
Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned in a press release that Congress and the nation had “misplaced a large” with Grijalva’s loss of life.
“Congressman Grijalva represented his group fiercely, preserving his constituents and the local weather on the middle of every thing he did,” Jeffries (D-N.Y.) mentioned.
Devoted to environmental causes
Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was first elected to the Home in 2002. Referred to as a liberal chief, he led the Congressional Progressive Caucus for a decade and devoted a lot of his profession to engaged on environmental causes.
He stepped down as the highest Democrat on the Pure Sources Committee this 12 months after saying that he deliberate to retire moderately than run for reelection in 2026.
Grijalva introduced almost a 12 months in the past that he had been identified with most cancers however would be capable to proceed his work. Regardless of lacking lots of of Home votes since then, he sought reelection in 2024 and received simply in his solidly Democratic district.
The seat, which represents a district spanning southern Arizona from Tucson to the Mexican border, will stay vacant till a substitute is chosen in a particular election later this 12 months.
The Democratic main within the principally Latino district is more likely to be a fierce battle amongst allies of Grijalva, a longtime southern Arizona energy dealer who led an influential bloc of progressive elected officers, and a extra reasonable faction. Potential contenders embody his daughter, Adelita Grijalva, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, one in every of Grijalva’s longtime allies.
‘A voice for equality’
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who served within the Home till final 12 months, mentioned in a press release that “Congressman Grijalva was not simply my colleague, however my pal.”
“As one other Latino working in public service, I can say from expertise that he served as a job mannequin to many younger individuals throughout the Grand Canyon State. He spent his life as a voice for equality,” Gallego added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an unbiased from Vermont, praised Grijalva as “some of the progressive members” within the Home.
“Raúl was a fighter for working households all through his whole life. He shall be sorely missed,” Sanders mentioned in a press release.
Grijalva began out as a group organizer in Tucson and served on the native faculty board for years earlier than being elected to the Pima County Board of Supervisors. He resigned from that submit in 2002 to hunt workplace in what was then Arizona’s newly created seventh Congressional District.
Grijalva prided himself on representing the underdogs, these and not using a voice.
His “variety and humble nature was identified to many. He was approachable by all as a result of he believed individuals must be handled as equals. He beloved to offer items, blare music in his workplace, and get to know individuals for who they’re,” Grijalva’s workplace mentioned in a press release.
He labored on points together with securing water provides for drought-stricken elements of Arizona and the West and securing funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which safeguards pure areas and supplies recreation alternatives.
He performed a key position in writing the Nationwide Panorama Conservation System Act and the Federal Lands Restoration Act, which have been signed into legislation by President Obama.
Lately, he additionally led advocacy in Congress for the creation of a nationwide monument close to the Grand Canyon. It was a part of an effort to guard the realm from uranium mining and to acknowledge calls by Native American tribes that sought to guard extra of their ancestral homelands.
He additionally opposed plans to develop a significant copper mine in southern Arizona.
Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican and fellow Arizonan, mentioned on the social platform X that Grijalva “was all the time very variety to me — he had an excellent humorousness. As a fellow animal lover, we frequently discovered ourselves working collectively on animal safety points.”
Rep. Jesús Garcia (D-Ailing.) mentioned Grijalva beloved a line from the Spanish tune “El Rey,” which interprets to: “It’s not solely about getting there first however about the way you get there.”
“I feel this phrase completely describes his tenacity in every thing he did,” Garcia mentioned.
Groves and Askarinam write for the Related Press. AP writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.
