Trans advocacy group endorses Grijalva as progressive frontrunner in special election
Adelita Grijalva has won the endorsement of the country's first organization dedicated to championing pro-trans candidates in her bid to win a special congressional election in southern Arizona, strengthening her ties to trans rights advocacy amid worsening hostility from the federal government — even as some in the Democratic Party move to the right on the issue.
Grijalva is campaigning for a chance to represent Arizona's 7th congressional district, a seat held for over two decades by her father, progressive giant Raúl Grijalva, until his death last month at 77 following a long battle with lung cancer.
The younger Grijalva, a veteran of Tucson-area politics who currently sits on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, faces a crowded field in July's Democratic primary. But she has quickly emerged as the frontrunner, gathering the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot within hours of her announcement to run and nabbing endorsements from prominent political figures, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
The Christopher Street Project, a national trans electoral advocacy organization established to counter the GOP's anti-trans focus, announced Wednesday it was backing Grijalva. The group's support cements her progressive bonafides and signals to voters that she hasn't joined the faction of the Democratic Party that is willing to compromise trans rights for electoral appeal.
During last year's election, as Republicans and President Donald Trump poured millions into campaign ads attacking trans people, Democratic congressional candidates in red states and battleground states adopted anti-trans talking points of their own. And in January, two Texas Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives sided with Republicans to vote for legislation that would have prohibited trans girls in public schools from joining sports teams that best align with their gender identity.
In a written statement, Grijalva celebrated the endorsement from the Christopher Street Project and called the anti-trans attacks from Republicans 'hateful, dangerous and shameful.' She vowed to push back on legislation targeting trans people and to keep fellow party members on track.
'In Congress, I'll fight alongside (the Christopher Street Project) to defend our trans communities, hold Democrats accountable to their promises, and push back against every effort to strip away our rights,' Grijalva said. 'Our message is clear: trans people belong, and we won't back down.'
Tyler Hack, the 19-year-old founder of the Christopher Street Project, which is named after the New York City street where the Stonewall Inn is located, said that Grijalva was the perfect choice for the organization's first ever political endorsement, given her history of consistent allyship. She has spent two decades on the Tucson Unified School District's governing board and has spent four years on the board of supervisors, where she was often involved with local LGBTQ and Pride month events.
'Adelita Grijalva is a proven champion for trans rights, and in the midst of this unprecedented, state-sponsored attack on trans people, we need her voice in Congress,' Hack said in a written statement.
Trump has issued multiple executive orders intended to make it impossible for trans people to live as themselves, including by erasing the federal recognition of trans people's existence, prohibiting pronoun use in federal agencies, threatening to cut federal funding from health care organizations that offer gender affirming care, laying the groundwork to ban trans people from the military and reinterpreting federal protections in a way that excludes gender identity so as to bar trans girls from joining school sports teams that best reflect who they are.
The Republican-controlled Congress is in lockstep with Trump's anti-trans vision, proposing bills that discriminate against trans people in athletics, public facilities, housing, school and government identification documents.
Hack said the only way to ensure a bulwark against that tide of attacks is by electing Democrats that are serious about protecting trans people.
'The Democratic Party needs to hold up its responsibility to all marginalized peoples, and that includes trans people,' they said. 'Democratic voters aren't happy with the abdication to Trump and to MAGA Republicans. We need fighters who will step up and support trans people in every way that they can.'
Along with pushing back on the anti-trans agenda at the federal level, Hack said a pro-trans candidate is needed to help ensure local resources for trans people, which are increasingly under attack from the Trump administration, remain available. That's because the threats from Trump and Republicans in Congress have resulted in state-based organizations complying in advance with discriminatory directives to avoid future consequences — even at the expense of trans people.
Shortly after the Arizona branch of Planned Parenthood received a letter from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructing it not to use Medicaid funding to pay for gender-affirming care, the organization voluntarily froze its trans health care services out of an 'abundance of caution.' Following public backlash, those services were restored. That, Hack said, is a clear example of a time when a trans-friendly advocate, like Grijalva, can be critical for trans Arizonans.
'Having someone who we can call and who can actually push an organization or a group to stand up for trans people and to not abdicate to Trump's attacks is crucial,' they said.
The Christopher Street Project's vote of confidence is also a boost for Grijalva's status as an advocate for LGBTQ rights, helping level the playing field against her most high-profile opponent, former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez. He was one of Arizona's few openly gay state lawmakers, was a founding member of the legislature's LGBTQ Caucus and spent years supporting working to enshrine LGBTQ rights into state statute and speaking out against discriminatory legislation.
Hack said the organization is working to mobilize volunteers in Arizona on behalf of Grijalva's bid and pointed out that the election for the congressional district's seat will be one of the first to take place since Trump took office in January. That, they said, gives the organization and trans advocates across the state an opportunity to flex their political muscles.
'This is the first special election in a safe blue or competitive district since Trump took office this year,' Hack said. 'There hasn't been an opportunity to demonstrate trans political power yet, and we're so excited to bring that to Arizona (CD) 7.'
The district, which spans much of southern Arizona, leans Democratic, with the percentage of votes cast for Democratic candidates more than doubling those cast for Republicans.
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