TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Things will move fast to replace Raul Grijalva in Congress, with a primary election in July and a general election in September. KGUN9’s Craig Smith went to the heart of Grijalva’s district to learn what people want in his replacement.
Early in his political career Raul Grijalva worked to create neighborhood centers like El Pueblo here and in fact he managed the center for quite some time. So we came here to ask people the qualities they’d like to see in whoever replaces him.
Raul Grijalva spent 22 years representing the people of what is now Congressional District Seven. Now it’s up to them to decide how they will choose his successor.
Frances Montaño Cañez grew up on Tucson’s southside and wants someone in Congress who shares her heart for the community.
“It would be nice to have someone from that has been brought up in our side of town, which is south, the south side. And he went to the and he went to the regular high schools. And that's what I would like to see— a person who knows what needs to be done in this community.”
Political consultant Chuck Coughlin of HighGround Inc. says District 7 is a reliably Democratic district and he does not see that changing anytime soon.
“As to its propensity for a Grajalva district, yeah, I would think that his daughter would have an edge up right now given the fact of amazing amounts of sympathy that Democratic voters will have for him and his service and his family, and so she comes to the race with that.”
He’s talking about Adelita Grijalva, who like her father, was a Tucson School District board member, and is a Pima County Supervisor.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero says she will not run for the seat.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes may be considering a bid for the seat.
Voters like Frances Montaño Cañez and Pete Olivas say they don’t care about a candidate’s party. They want someone ready to work hard for people like them.
“We need something to do about these water rights. We haven't had any rain all last year. We need help for the rain, and we need something to handle the crime and all that.”
Anyone who wants to be a candidate will have to work fast. To get on the primary ballot they will have to have paperwork and petitions filed in less than a month.
——-
Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
