Progressive Democrats wasted no time eulogizing the legacy of Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a progressive lion of the decrease chamber who died on Thursday on the age of 77 after a battle with lung most cancers.
Huddled on the Democrats’ annual retreat in Northern Virginia, the melancholy lawmakers remembered Grijalva not solely as a fierce champion of the setting, immigrant rights and financial justice, but in addition as a mentor to like-minded lawmakers who seen him as a hero and position mannequin.
Grijalva, mentioned Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), was “a real giant of the House and of the progressive movement … a champion of the environment and environmental justice … and he was a real mentor and friend to me.”
Casar, 35, mentioned he knew Grijalva as a legendary determine for his battle towards a controversial Arizona legislation, referred to as SB-1070, that focused immigrants residing within the nation with out authorized standing. Handed in 2010, the “show-me-your-papers” legislation required these within the nation legally to hold paperwork proving their standing or face arrest.
Later, after arriving on Capitol Hill in 2023, Casar mentioned he relished the chance to speak with Grijalva “about music, and dominoes and about when we were going to get real Mexican food in D.C.”
“Really as a young Latino in politics, there were not that many Latino progressives with a real national profile to look up to,” Casar mentioned. “And he’s somebody who I was just so proud to call somebody that I looked up to — and was able to serve with far too briefly.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a former CPC chair, has comparable recollections. She recalled a dialogue with Grijalva when she was poised to switch him as a co-chair of the CPC in 2019. Grijalva had held that publish for the earlier decade — the longest-serving chair in CPC’s historical past — and she or he knew she had large footwear to fill.
“I remember when we had the conversation about it — I was the first vice chair — he said, ‘It is so important that we have somebody who has been fighting in the movement already.’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re just following in your path, Raúl,’” Jayapal mentioned.
“You never had to wonder where Rep. Grijalva was going to be on a critical vote. He was always going to be in the place of the people, and he was an incredible support to me personally,” she continued. “He was a champion on so many big issues. I was sleeping in church basements for SB-1070 when he was fighting as an elected official. … It is an immense loss, and my thoughts go out to his family. And I hope they know how strong his legacy will be for a very long time.”
Grijalva, a son of a Mexican migrant employee, was first elected to Congress in 2002 and rapidly established himself as a liberal champion of the low- and working-classes. He rose to turn into a co-chair of the CPC in 2009, and when Democrats gained management of the Home in 2019, he ascended as chair of the highly effective Pure Sources Committee.
From that perch, Grijalva helped lead the Democratic cost within the battle towards local weather change and helped to craft the Democrats’ sweeping local weather invoice, which handed beneath former President Biden.
Following Grijalva’s demise on Thursday, Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) hailed the Arizona veteran for his lengthy profession in public service — which started lengthy earlier than he got here to Washington — and hailed him as “a progressive warrior who always fought for the least, the lost and the left behind.”
“He was a mentor to many and a friend to all,” Jeffries mentioned, “and we will miss his principled presence and wisdom greatly in the Congress.”
