Arizona 7 Special: All in the Family
July 17, 2025 · 10:49 AM EDT
Sometimes, the most obvious outcome is the one that ends up happening. In the race to replace the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva in Arizona’s 7th District, that meant an easy Democratic primary win for Adelita Grijalva, the former congressman’s daughter and a Pima County supervisor with support from much of the Arizona political establishment and national progressive leaders.
A largely sleepy affair since the elder Grijalva died in March, the primary began to attract national attention in its closing week as speculation grew that progressive influencer Deja Foxx could pull off an upset.
Ultimately, Grijalva won with 62 percent over Foxx (21 percent) and former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez (14 percent). Grijalva led in every publicly released poll of the race, though never by such a large margin as the final results. She will be the heavy favorite against Republican Daniel Butierez in the Sept. 23 special general election. Butierez lost to Raúl Grijalva, 63-37 percent, in 2024.
When the race began, Hernandez had seemed the greater threat to Adelita Grijalva’s ascension, even as the county supervisor boasted endorsements from Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Hernandez is well-known thanks to his time in the state legislature, previous run for a neighboring congressional district, and the national attention he received after he helped save the life of Rep. Gabby Giffords in the 2011 shooting. He also led the field in fundraising. But support from outside groups never materialized for Hernandez, whose allies had hoped that Democratic Majority for Israel or United Democracy Project would spend in the race to boost his candidacy thanks to his longtime advocacy for Israel.
Democratic sources were always skeptical of Hernandez’s odds, and there was an effort to ease him out of the race to prevent him from being embarrassed after he similarly fell short in the primary in Arizona’s 6th District in 2022. “There’s no ill will or desire to embarrass [him],” said one person familiar with that effort ahead of this week’s primary, “but he’s going to lose worse here than he’s ever lost before, which could impact his future.”
But Hernandez evidently rebuffed those efforts, only to place third behind a 25-year-old political newcomer.
Foxx was known in some Democratic circles for her work on the Kamala Harris campaign and social media videos about reproductive rights, but had no political history in the district. Initially a distant third, she stood up a successful fundraising operation and impressed the other campaigns with her ground game. She received a boost from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and then former DNC vice chairman David Hogg, whose PAC endorsed her and spent on her behalf.
After another young, media-savvy progressive scored an upset victory in the New York City mayoral primary against an opponent with a famous name, interest in Foxx picked up. Her campaign released a poll showing her down just 8 points, 43-35 percent. Days before the primary, national outlets began framing the race as a generational contest between the media-savvy Foxx and the 54-year-old Grijalva. “A Political Influencer Could Seriously Win a Seat in Congress,” claimed a Politico headline. The Daily Beast called Foxx “The Next AOC” as CNN stated “Arizona special election primary roiled by Democratic debates over age, experience and legacy.”
But Grijalva sailed to victory in the low-turnout election. Boosted not only by her famous last name and the deep support for her father in the district, but also her own 25-year political career on the school board and as a county supervisor, Grijalva doesn’t appear to have ever been in danger of losing the seat that many local observers penciled her in for years ago.
In the fall, there won’t be nearly as much suspense. Grijalva will be the heavy favorite in the general election in a district Harris carried by 22 points last November. Her victory will help replenish the Democratic ranks after three older members died earlier this year.