AZ Votes Debate: U.S. Congressional District 7 Democratic candidates

Following the passing of Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D), five Democratic candidates are running to replace him in Arizona’s Congressional District 7. District 7 covers a portion of southern Arizona, including parts of Yuma, Tucson, and the metro Phoenix area. The area also covers a large majority of Arizona’s border with Mexico. Governor Katie Hobbs has set a primary election for July 15, and a general election for September 23, 2025.

The candidates include Adelita Grijalva, a former Pima County Supervisor and daughter of the late Congressman; Daniel Hernandez, Jr., a former state lawmaker; Patrick Harris, Sr., a businessman; Deja Foxx, an influencer who worked on Kamala Harris’s 2020 campaign; and José Malvido, Jr., an Indigenous scholar.

The five candidates discussed issues such as the economy, healthcare and climate change, as well answering the question of why voters should elect them to represent CD7 in Congress.

On biggest needs in district and top priorities

Deja Foxx: Protecting social services isn’t just a talking point. We know that Donald Trump has put families like mines in his crosshairs. Republicans are attempting to pass bills in the middle of the night that would strip families like mine from their access to healthcare, would take food off their tables, and line the pockets of billionaires.

Adelita Grijalva: So day 1 we have to fight against Trump, we cannot let Trump take away social security, medicare and medicaid, because 347,000 arizonans and 142,000 children depend on it. That’s just one of the big issues we have to work on.

Patrick Harris, Sr.: First thing I’m gonna do is take the legislation already drafted and introduce capitated capitalism to congress. To force the billionaires to reinvest in the country that’s been so good to them.

Daniel Hernandez, Jr.: What I’m hearing on hundreds of doors that I’ve personally knocked is [the] cost of living is too high. People are feeling the pinch. We need to do everything we can fight against Trump’s tariffs that are gonna disproportionately impact this congressional district. 

José Malvido, Jr.: To get back the power of the executive branch and put it back into the other three. The consolidation of the three branches of power into the executive branch is what’s happening right now.

On the GOP’s tax and spending bill

Deja Foxx: I wish I could say this surprises me, this spending bill. The ways it priorities billionaires lining their pockets while stealing healthcare from people in our communities. 

Adelita Grijalva: I think one of the things they’re out of touch with is the average American and what our plight is. And when you’re looking at these communities that have continued to be hit with these cuts, our veterans, our seniors, our mothers. Mothers with small children, our LGBTQ communities, our indigenous communities. Not just in health, but we’re talking environment, we’re talking library services and access to arts and music.

Daniel Hernandez, Jr.: These programs that are being cut and slashed, medicaid, medicare and social security potentially, are going to put the most vulnerable people in this district at risk. People like me, people like my family.

José Malvido, Jr.: It’s not that they’re out of touch, they’re deliberate. But at the same time, why are all these people in power? It’s because people are also fed up with the way the Democratic party has been. 

Patrick Harris, Sr.: A lot of people go bankrupt from healthcare bills. I’ve seen it first hand. Again, what they’re doing, and I agree with my colleagues here, they’re operating under a philosophy of trickle down economics which has proven to fail.

On mining projects in the district and the environment

Adelita Grijalva: All of the ore that everyone says is so critical for our communities, for our technology, is actually getting sent out. For four years, all of the royalties go away, and then they come back and we’re actually purchasing the ore that was dug out of our communities. And what’s left in the aftermath is an environmental destruction.

Daniel Hernandez, Jr.: Right now democrats are out of touch with working-class Americans, that’s one of the reasons we’ve lost elections. Because politicians are not listening. When people are struggling to make ends meet, they need someone to stand up, to make sure we have good wages, protections for their families, and make sure they have a job to be able to go to. You can’t say that you support workers if you don’t support the work.

Deja Foxx: We need bold progressive action on climate change, right here in CD7 and all across the country. And that means protecting sacred sites for cultural groups here and our landscapes. Our public lands, and our future environment.

José Malvido, Jr: I grew up in a mining town. I grew up in a copper mining town where sacred sights were reduced into a giant mine pit. Yes, it puts food on the table but at what costs? The environmental justice issues there, my hometown is a superfund site. We have a cancer cluster, we have an asthma cluster because of the mine. It’s shut down, but the effects are gonna continue living there.

Patrick Harris, Sr.: It creates jobs, sure. It destroys the environment, absolutely. But where does the profit go? Those are short-term jobs, that profit is being syphoned out of the district. No, there are good paying jobs that can be brought into the district.