{"id":44177,"date":"2025-09-25T13:39:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T20:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44177"},"modified":"2025-09-25T13:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T20:39:41","slug":"grijalvas-people-powered-win-in-arizona-shrinks-gop-house-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/grijalvas-people-powered-win-in-arizona-shrinks-gop-house-majority\/","title":{"rendered":"Grijalva\u2019s People-Powered Win in Arizona Shrinks GOP House Majority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Adelita<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adelita Grijalva celebrates after winning a special election to represent Arizona\u2019s 7th District in the US Congress on September 23, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Yassamin Ansari\/X)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is more than a victory,\u201d said organizers in Arizona. \u201cIt is a mandate. A signal that voters are ready for fearless leadership, not capitulation, not confusion, but action.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 24, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic and social justice organizers in Arizona applauded Wednesday after Democrat Adelita Grijalva, the daughter of late US Rep. Ra\u00fal Grijalva and a longtime local political leader, easily won a special election to succeed her father and represent the state\u2019s 7th District in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local organization Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) emphasized that in the primary election she won in July and her contest against Republican opponent Daniel Butierez, Grijalva ran a campaign \u201cfueled by working-class voters, young people, Latinos, and long-time movement builders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAs the first Latina elected to represent Arizona, her win sends a clear message: The old playbook isn\u2019t working, and voters are demanding something different,\u201d said the group. \u201cThis is more than a victory. It is a mandate. A signal that voters are ready for fearless leadership, not capitulation, not confusion, but action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grijalva campaigned<\/a> on defending Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security from Republican cuts and attacks; protecting workers\u2019 right to unionize; and lowering the cost of housing. She won endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-NY) ahead of the primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdelita\u2019s win is a turning point,\u201d said Alejandra Gomez, executive director of LUCHA. \u201cShe\u2019s not going to Congress to blend in. She\u2019s going to lead, to fight, and to remind the Democratic Party what it looks like to be grounded in people, not corporate donors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear when Grijalva will officially be sworn in, with the House out of session until October and lawmakers currently working to avert a government shutdown that could begin October 1, but when she takes office the Democrats will have narrowed the Republican Party\u2019s majority to 219-214. There are two remaining vacancies that also need to be filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grassroots progressive group Our Revolution called Grijalva\u2019s victory \u201ca big step toward building the progressive power we need to block MAGA\u2019s extremist agenda and deliver for working people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/OurRevolution\/status\/1970823110577274890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1970823110577274890%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fadelita-grijalva-for-congress<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s real energy right now for a different kind of politics, one that puts working people first. Voters are tired of politicians who hide in the pockets of their billionaire donors,\u201d said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. \u201cWe know that Adelita is going to be a tireless fighter for working families in her district.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grijalva\u2019s victory also gives a crucial 218th vote to a bipartisan effort led by Reps. Ro Khanna<\/a> (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to force a vote ordering the Justice Department to release unredacted files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and who was a friend of President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grijalva said this week that \u201cif elected, on my very first day in Congress, I\u2019ll sign the bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused<\/a> to call a vote on releasing the files, which Trump opposes. Khanna and Massie introduced<\/a> a discharge petition to circumvent the House leadership, which has been signed by every Democratic member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Republicans\u2014Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia\u2014have joined the Democrats in supporting the maneuver, and Grijalva\u2019s signature will give the Democrats the 218th vote they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grijalva told<\/a> CNN<\/em> ahead of the election that she heard on the campaign trail from voters who want the files to be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey believe the survivors deserve justice,\u201d said Grijalva, \u201cand Congress must fulfill its duty to check the executive branch and hold Trump accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) said<\/a> Grijalva will be \u201ca true progressive fighter and partner in our fight against authoritarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArizona\u2019s delegation just got even stronger,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adelita Grijalva celebrates after winning a special election to represent Arizona\u2019s 7th District in the US Congress on September 23, 2025. \u00a0(Photo: Yassamin Ansari\/X) \u201cThis is more than a victory,\u201d said organizers in Arizona. \u201cIt is a mandate. A signal that voters are ready for fearless leadership, not capitulation, not… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44177"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44178,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44177\/revisions\/44178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}