{"id":128185,"date":"2025-03-20T10:06:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=128185"},"modified":"2025-03-20T10:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:12:21","slug":"cronkite-news-democratic-lawmaker-raul-grijalva-passes-on-at-age-of-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/03\/20\/cronkite-news-democratic-lawmaker-raul-grijalva-passes-on-at-age-of-77\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Democratic lawmaker Ra\u00fal Grijalva passes on at age of 77"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Ra\u00fal<\/a>
Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva (1948-2025) served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 20 years, during which he advocated for tribal issues as a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Seen here at the U.S. Capitol on February 6, 2024, he passed away on March 13, 2025, at the age of 77. Photo courtesy House Committee on Natural Resources, Democrats<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Longtime Arizona Congressman Ra\u00fal Grijalva dead at 77<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, March 20, 2025<\/div>\r\n
By Cronkite News Staff<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. — Tucson congressman Ra\u00fal Grijalva died Thursday, March 13, after a battle with cancer. Aides announced the death of the 12-term Democrat, a leading voice among progressive Democrats since his election in 2002.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nGrijalva had already decided not to seek another term. He returned to the Capitol infrequently after announcing his diagnosis nearly a year ago. His last vote was January 3, the first day of the new Congress.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nHe was 77.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nTributes poured in.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nGov. Katie Hobbs (D) said in a statement that she was \u201cdevastated by the loss.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nGrijalva, she said, \u201cwas a true champion for the people of our state. For over two decades, he was a fierce advocate for his constituents and a fighter to uplift Arizona\u2019s most vulnerable communities, with a steadfast focus on ensuring justice for all.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nShe cited his work to protect the environment, health care and tribal sovereignty.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cI join every Arizonan in mourning his passing. May he rest in peace,\u201d Hobbs said.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe fight with cancer kept Grijalva at home for much of 2024. Congressional records show he didn\u2019t cast any votes from April through September. His last vote on the House floor.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nSen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, who served with Grijalva in the U.S. House until January, called him a friend who used his chairmanship of the House Natural Resources Committee to advocate for Arizona\u2019s water rights, natural beauty and Indigenous communities.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn 2012, supporters urged President Barack Obama to name him Interior secretary.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cHe served as a role model to many young people across the Grand Canyon State. He spent his life as a voice for equality,\u201d Gallego said in a statement.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nGrijalva is the second House Democrat to die in office this month. First-term Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former mayor of Houston, died March 5 at age 70, hours after President Donald Trump\u2019s address to Congress.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe full statement<\/a> from Grijalva\u2019s office. [grijalva.house.gov<\/a>]\r\n

<\/P>\r\nRead more Cronkite News coverage of Grijalva over the years here<\/a>. [cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/a>]\r\n

<\/P>\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>. It is published via a Creative Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM>
\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

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Rep. Ra\u00fal Grijalva (D-Arizona) passes on leadership position on House Committee on Natural Resources<\/a> (December 3, 2024)<\/div>
Cronkite News: Key Democratic lawmaker plans to leave Congress<\/a> (October 2, 2024)<\/div>
House committee advances slate of Indian Country bills<\/a> (June 14, 2023)<\/div>
Indian Country legislation \u2018hijacked\u2019 by Republicans on Capitol Hill<\/a> (June 9, 2022)<\/div>
Tribal consultation bill hits snag on eve of \u2018historic\u2019 action in Congress<\/a> (April 11, 2022)<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ra\u00fal Grijalva was known as a champion of tribal issues as a leader on the House Committee on Natural Resources.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[42,357,46,94,49,4224,236,126,124],"class_list":["post-128185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-politics","tag-arizona","tag-cancer","tag-cronkite-news","tag-democrats","tag-hnrc","tag-katie-hobbs","tag-obituaries","tag-raul-grijalva","tag-ruben-gallego","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20\/raulgrijalva.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-xlv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128185"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128192,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128185\/revisions\/128192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}