Raúl Grijalva was a Democrat who represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 until his death.
- Died: March 13, 2025 (Who else died on March 13?)
- Details of death: Died in Tucson, Arizona of complications from treatment for lung cancer at the age of 77.
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Raúl Grijalva’s legacy
Grijalva was born and raised in southern Arizona, the area he later came to represent in Congress. The son of immigrants from Mexico, he found his way into politics via the Raza Unida Party, a grassroots political party centered on Latino-Americans. But before he got political, Grijalva was a social worker, having studied sociology at the University of Arizona.
Grijalva became an elected official in 1974, serving on Tucson’s school board. After 12 years on the school board, he moved on to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, serving from 1989 to 2002, including a tenure as chair in his last two years. He then mounted his first campaign for Congress, prevailing over his Republican opponent by a margin of over 20 points. It was his first of 12 terms in Congress, where he became known for his progressive views on issues like immigration and the environment.
The committees on which Grijalva served in Congress included Natural Resources, where he was chair from 2019 to 2023, along with Education and the Workforce. He was co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for 10 years, and his votes reflected that affiliation. A champion of the rights of Native Americans, immigrants, and undocumented people, Grijalva was a vocal opponent of Arizona’s 2010 law allowing broad police checks of citizenship documentation.
Although he was a strong supporter of President Joe Biden and his policy positions during Biden’s term, Grijalva was the second House Democrat to urge the president to step down from his second presidential bid in 2024. The congressman had intended to retire from his own political career after his current term, which would have ended in January 2027.
Grijalva on getting into politics
“That’s not your career. You have to have a life. I was a social worker for 17 years. I taught at Pima College. I had a life and I had a family. So when I ran, I had lived part of my life. People who start out with the agenda of running for Congress as a career path and get into politics as a career path, I’m always suspect of those people, I’m always suspect because of my own personal experience. I didn’t start out with that intention. It kind of worked out, and I’ve been fortunate because people trust me. So it’s been that kind of a career for me. I didn’t start out to become the congressman of District 7.” —from a 2024 interview in The Tucson Sentinel
Tributes to Raúl Grijalva
Full obituary: Arizona Daily Star
