‘You are no progressive’: Special congressional election race turns fiery in Tucson debate

By Casey Clowes

A previously serene off-year election turned fiery in a televised debate as two high-profile Democratic congressional candidates sparred over tax and environmental policy, each accusing the other of being “out of touch.”

Former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez Jr. and former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva — and occasionally social media strategist Deja Foxx, a younger candidate with a large online following — traded barbs on TV as they competed to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the veteran Arizona Democrat who died in March after a battle with lung cancer.

Hernandez took Grijalva to task over her support for a Tucson sales tax hike, which voters resoundingly rejected earlier this year. The tax proposal was “regressive,” disproportionately hurting low-earners, Hernandez argued, at a time when people were already struggling under the costs of inflation.

“What we have is a problem where out-of-touch politicians, who have spent almost two decades in office, forget what it’s like to be able to buy groceries at the grocery store,” he said.

Grijalva countered that cost-cutting at the state and federal levels created the need for Tucson and other cities to raise money. She cited statistics arguing the city’s investments in issues such as affordable housing have paid dividends. Then she tore into Hernandez.

“Respectfully, you are no progressive,” she said, noting the left-leaning group Progress Arizona once put Hernandez second-to-last in their ranking of House Democrats’ voting records.

“My opponent’s record is so bad that she had to keep distorting mine,” Hernandez shot back. “The reality is when people were hurting, she tried to raise taxes.”

The 25-year-old Foxx, who spoke during the debate with the cadence of a slam poet, interjected to call both Hernandez and Grijalva “career politicians” and said Grijalva failed to improve sex education while serving on Tucson’s school board, an issue Foxx focused on as an activist during her teenage years.

“I know power from the other side of the dais,” Foxx said. “It took a young person like me … showing up, telling vulnerable stories I never should have had to share in a room full of adults, to see change.”

A lesser-known candidate, Patrick Harris Sr., hammered on the main item in his platform: a billion-dollar wealth cap that would force wealthy individuals to reinvest the rest of their money back into the country’s economy.

The candidates are running to represent Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, a liberal stronghold where only one-fifth of registered voters are Republicans, according to the Arizona Secretary of State‘s Office. That means the winner of the July 15 Democratic primary is all but guaranteed to win in the Sept. 23 general election.

Early voting begins June 18, about a month before the primary.

Candidates take digs at each other on mining

Mining became a flashpoint that separated Hernandez, a moderate candidate more aligned with the business community, from Grijalva, a progressive who has pledged to continue her father’s legacy of staunch environmental protection.

Grijalva hammered Hernandez over his support for mining projects across Arizona that are controversial for their environmental footprint. She said mining royalties often don’t benefit the community where minerals are extracted.

Her father, the long-serving member of Congress, was a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee, where he battled mining companies that wanted to develop uranium mines near the Grand Canyon and a huge copper mine near Superior.

“What’s left, in the aftermath, is environmental destruction,” she said.

Hernandez framed Grijalva’s stance as “out of touch” with the American working class and siding with “special interests.”

“What I’m doing is supporting good union jobs,” he said. “You can’t say that you support workers if you don’t support the work.”

Mining executives and advocates in the southern Arizona business community have helped raise money for Hernandez, according to a fundraiser invitation obtained by The Arizona Republic.

Fundraising provides clues about the race’s direction

At the time of the debate, both Grijalva and Hernandez had mobilized resources behind their campaigns, though Grijalva was boosted by a diffuse fundraising network and several big endorsements.

She received early backing from Arizona’s two Democratic senators, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, and nationally-known progressive figures like the Working Families Party and Bernie Sanders.

Her campaign told The Republic that as of early May, around half of their receipts came from donations of $200 or less. For Hernandez, that figure was around 12%, similar to Arizona’s two sitting Democratic representatives.

Hernandez, on the other hand, had modestly outraised Grijalva as of early May and garnered support from several labor groups and several local and state elected officials. His campaign has been leaning on donors who have a history of giving to pro-Israel causes.

Grijalva and Foxx launched their campaigns right after a critical disclosure deadline, so the details of their fundraising won’t become public until just two weeks before the July 15 primary. Foxx told The Republic after the televised debate that she had raised more than $200,000 but declined to share a specific total.