AZ Votes: U.S. Congressional District 7 Debate

A special election will be held September 23, 2025, to replace the late Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District.

In this “AZ Votes” special election debate, we heard from the two winners of the primary elections as they debated the issues. We were joined by Democrat Adelita Grijalva, the daugher of the late Representative Raul Grijalva, and Republican Daniel Butierez to debate issues most pressing to voters.

The Current Status and Future of CD7:

Daniel Butierez: “…no I don’t think it’s moving in the right direction, and the biggest problem that I see happening here in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma…it’s the homeless crisis that’s plaguing our communities…it’s brought on by the drugs which is the under factor of this problem…the crime that it brings…it’s gotten way out of control.”

Adelita Grijalva: “…no, what this administration is doing is systematically taking away our opportunity to reach our American dream, and to fulfill what we want for our communities. Which is making sure that our young people, and our seniors have an opportunity to be able to live their lives in dignity and peace.”

Drugs Coming Across the Border:

Adelita Grijalva: “…drugs are a national issue. The problem really lies here in the United States because we’re asking for the drugs, we’re the customers…what we need to do is put more efforts into prevention, and less efforts into making it seem as if the scapegoat are migrant communities and immigrants.”

Medicaid Cuts:

Daniel Butierez: “My understanding is the cuts that are being cut in it are fraudulent cases, people that are getting it…undocumented immigrants are getting it, they’ve been cut from it. They’re also doing something, gonna want people to work to get some of these benefits that they’re getting, and yes I’m for that…if im put in Washington I will go in and fight for medicaid if someone that deserves it, and isn’t getting it, I will fight for them.”

Adelita Grijalva: “Who’s gonna be the judge of who deserves it. We have a system in place, and that bill is going to cut 383,000 Arizonans off of Medicaid, and of those, 142,000 are children. How does it help us improve our communities if hundreds of thousands of people are cut off their health insurance.”