Adelita Grijalva wins Arizona House Democratic primary - media projections

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, July 15 Reuters) - Establishment-backed Democrat Adelita Grijalva was set to win a primary to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat in Arizona vacated by her late father, according to several media projections late on Tuesday.

Grijalva, a 54-year-old former county board supervisor, held off a late, surging challenge from Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old rival who was backed by progressives seeking generational changes within the Democratic Party.

Grijalva is now favored to win the September 23 general election to replace Representative Raul Grijalva, her father who died in March, in Arizona's 7th Congressional District that is heavily Democratic and stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border, including parts of Tucson.

If she prevails in September's general election, Grijalva will become the first Latina to be elected to an Arizona U.S. House seat. She would fill out the two-year term her father won in last November's election. Altogether, he served for over 22 years in the House and earned a reputation as a protector of public lands and an advocate for immigration reforms.

Unofficial returns posted by the Arizona secretary of state's office had Grijalva leading Foxx by a solid 62%-20.6%.

With Democrats' losses in last year's presidential and congressional elections weighing heavily on the party nationwide, it has struggled over how best to appeal to young progressives while luring back working-class voters who shifted toward the Republican Party.

Grijalva racked up notable backers spanning the party divide. They include environmental groups, labor unions and lawmakers who range from progressive luminaries such as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to the moderate Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.

But Foxx, half Grijalva's age and emphasizing her youth, gained attention in what some party activists hoped would be a shock victory for progressives, much like Zohran Mamdani's in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary last month.

Foxx won the endorsement of David Hogg, a survivor of a 2018 Florida school shooting who held a high position within the Democratic National Committee until he ruffled establishment feathers by threatening to help finance challengers to Democratic incumbents he deemed insufficiently progressive.

A more moderate former Arizona state representative, Daniel Hernandez Jr., also ran for the Democratic nomination along with two other Democratic candidates.

Raul Grijalva won re-election in November, easily beating his Republican opponent by about 27 percentage points.

Next year's midterm elections give Democrats the opportunity to capture a majority in the House, which currently is narrowly controlled by Republicans 220-212.

Republicans also held a primary election for Grijalva's seat on Tuesday. Daniel Francis Sr., who has worked in the construction industry, was leading two challengers, according to early returns.