Grijalva, Butierez set for CD7 showdown ahead of 2024 election

EDITORS NOTE: Congressman Grijalva declined a formal sit-down interview with KGUN 9. This article only contains our full interview with Daniel Butierez.

In his office off Roger Road, Daniel Butierez runs his family business, Butierez Painting, a business he started after receiving a tax break during the Trump administration.

"I was at the end of a gun my whole life, up until 2017 when Trump put that tax break out there to help first-time business owners start their first businesses," says Butierez who is running as a republican against incumbent Raul Grijalva, "I jumped on that train. I left Express Painting and started Butierez Painting because it was an opportunity for me to grow my company."

Butierez ran uncontested in the 2024 primary, as did Grijalva, meaning this is one of his first chances to introduce himself to the public.

The following conversation contains a few excerpts from the full-length interview:

"Did you think Title 42 was something that worked for Arizona?”

“What has happened when they ended Title 42 is a lot of the migration has come to Tucson, so and I've been up and down the border from Yuma to Douglas. The worst area of the border is here in Tucson," says Butierez.

“What is your view when it comes to Prop 139, and abortion access in general in Arizona?”

“I believe in the sanctity of life, so I'm not for the death sentence, for murder or anything like that, and I'm against abortion, says Butierez, "As a Republican speaking with a Democrat, we're not going to see eye to eye on everything, but the issues that matter to everybody are the issues that I can fix. And, you know, and let me fix what I can fix. And then if abortion is still the biggest thing on their topic, then fire me and hire somebody else.”

WATCH BLAKE'S FULL-LENGTH INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL BUTIEREZ:

As for Grijalva, he declined a sit-down with KGUN9, but a team caught up with him at an event last weekend.

In one of his first public appearances since his cancer diagnosis, Grijalva thanked Arizonans for supporting him and his family.

“We're sustained because people believe in you and and so we're very, very proud of that record, and we're very proud that we have defended a philosophy that gains more and more attention and power as the years go by. We've been part of that, so it's good,” says Grijalva.

He also touched on immigration, where Grijalva says he wants to see nonpartisan solutions found.

"If we're going to deal with immigration and all the complexities and divisions that are part of immigration, that we have to sit down like grown up people and begin to work on some compromises and incremental solutions, otherwise we keep ignoring it," says Grijalva.

Grijalva has not voted in Washington D.C. since February, and announced his cancer diagnosis in April.

But in July he said he had finished cancer treatments.

In a statement, Grijalva also says if elected, this will be his last term in congress.

“I have every intention of using my final term to build on the hard-fought wins we’ve had for the environment and Southern Arizona," Grijalva said in a statement, "But the time is right for me to get ready to pass the torch to the next generation.”