Congressional District 7 debate

Congressional District 7 Candidates Raul Grijalva (D) and Luis Pozzolo (R) participated in a half-hour debate to talk about their campaigns and plans for the district.

Grijalva serves on Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, the second largest Congressional district in Arizona. He has served as Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and he serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and is the Chairman Emeritus of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He is a long-standing member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Pozzolo immigrated to the U.S. in 2003 from Uruguay. He became a U.S. citizen in 2012. He is a small business owner and is an advocate for lawful immigration.

Abortion Rights

Grijalva said that he would vote to codify Roe v. Wade. “That decision and the fact that women in this country of ours, this great nation, are now essentially second class citizens, second class status. Not having the full rights and prerogatives that every citizen and every person in this country should have,” Grijalva said.

Pozzolo thinks that the Supreme Court did the right decision by overturning Roe v. Wade. He said that the states should makes those decisions. However, he believes that there should be limitations that include rape and incest.

Water Rights

Grijalva believes that the Department of the Interior along the Bureau of Reclamation should take a more proactive role in dictating the plans for water rights in Arizona.

On the other hand, Pozzolo believes that the Secretary of Interior shouldn’t really have a say on how Arizona mages its water. “The states need to take a decision on how we use the water in our territory, not somebody sitting in Washington D.C. telling us, “Oh you need to cut twenty one percent of the water,” but you’re telling California to cut zero,” Pozzolo said.