Democratic legislator states he will not run once again after the next Congress
Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, who represents a district that includes his home town of Tucson and much of Arizona's border with Mexico, was very first chosen to Congress in 2002. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file image)
Published October 1, 2024 at 5:13 pm
Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, stated this election will be his last after currently serving 22 years in Congress.
Grijalva informed 13 News in Tucson on Monday that he was not “deserting” his task, however rather that he was preparing his retirement due to the fact that it was “time for another person and it's time for someone more youthful.”
Grijalva, 76, was the 2nd House Democrat to require President Joe Biden to step aside in the middle of issues about his age.
Grijalva, who represents a district that includes his home town of Tucson and much of Arizona's border with Mexico, was very first chosen to Congress in 2002. He's most likely to get that last term. The race is ranked Solid Democratic by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and in 2022 he won with almost two-thirds of the vote.
Grijalva has actually run out Washington for much of the year after revealing his lung cancer medical diagnosis in April. In July he finished treatment and stated that he is presently “90 percent” recuperated and in physical treatment. He has actually missed out on more than 300 votes, however explained those votes as “insignificant since the Republicans supervise and it's the worst-performing Congress in years if not 100 years.”
Grijalva ended up being the ranking member of your home Natural Resources Committee in 2014, and in 2018 he ended up being chairman when Democrats restored the bulk. He leapfrogged members who had more seniority, in part due to the fact that of recommendations from a variety of ecological groups. He as soon as again ended up being ranking member when Republicans took the bulk in 2023.
He utilized his period as chairman to advance costs intending to increase defenses for public lands and need the federal government to more highly think about ecological variations in low-income and minority neighborhoods.
“For more than 20 years, our public lands have actually had no higher good friend than Raul Grijalva,” stated Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program. “His enthusiasm, advocacy, and management have actually secured valuable landscapes for future generations, honored the Tribes who have actually stewarded these lands because time immemorial, and used an enthusiastic vision for handling the environment crisis.”
Grijalva was co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for ten years up until 2019.
