Local opinion: How organizing won CD7 and what national pundits got wrong

By: Alejandra Gomez

Executive Director, LUCHA

On Tuesday, Adelita Grijalva won a resounding victory in the CD7 special election. When the dust settles, one thing should be clear: This victory didn’t happen by chance. It was the result of months of disciplined, strategic organizing led by Grijalva, and by grassroots organizations who know that Arizona deserves progressive champions in Congress.

From the start, LUCHA backed Adelita Grijalva because she has always shown up for our community, and we didn’t stop at an endorsement. We got to work.

We were the first organization in this race to endorse, knock on doors, and invest in reaching voters at scale. LUCHA knocked on over 26,000 doors, supported partners in their televised ads, and spent more than a quarter million dollars to make sure voters heard directly from people they trust. In addition, LUCHA was able to assemble a progressive coalition of partners early to rally voter education efforts and collectively knock on nearly 100,000 doors.

People power and community connection are what made Grijalva the winning

candidate. But you wouldn’t know any of that if you only read the national coverage.

Pundits who parachuted into this race labeled Adelita an “establishment candidate,” ignoring decades spent defending Mexican American Studies, expanding preschool, fighting for reproductive rights, and affordable housing. Not for headlines, but because it was the right thing to do.

This is the same national media that spent 2024 blaming Latinos and progressives for Kamala Harris’s loss, as if we are convenient punching bags whenever Democrats fail to inspire. But the truth is, voters are tired of candidates who think they can skip the work and win by association and algorithm.

Politics is personal, and performative progressivism doesn’t hold up when your record is thin, and it’s hardly ever rewarded at the ballot box.

While many assumed Adelita’s name recognition in Pima County would carry the day, the data told a more complicated story elsewhere. Maricopa County was an area where Latino voters were less likely to be contacted by campaigns, and where traditional political infrastructure often overlooked working-class communities. That’s why LUCHA invested early in those neighborhoods. And it made a difference: Preliminary data shows LUCHA’s ground game had a measurable impact on the outcome.

In Maricopa precincts where LUCHA canvassed, voter turnout was 3.5%

higher and Grijalva’s vote share was 2% higher than in precincts without LUCHA’s

presence. By strategically targeting both high-propensity Democrats and overlooked Latino voters, we helped shape the outcome.

We also knew this race was about something bigger than any single candidate. After 2024, when Latino turnout dipped, it was obvious that even high-propensity voters needed authentic engagement. So we knocked on doors in places no one else did, like Gila Bend, because every voter deserved a conversation about the stakes.

This campaign was a referendum on more than two candidates. It was a test of whether grassroots power, strategic investment, and values-driven organizing could overcome stale politics, cynicism, and the tired narratives imposed by pundits who don’t know Arizona and don’t care to learn.

Together, we passed that test.

This victory wasn’t an accident. It was a choice to believe in our communities instead of letting consultants or headlines define us. Grijalva and supporters proved that you don’t have to choose between being progressive and being strategic. We can be both. We must be both.

There are lessons here for all. To progressive organizations across this country: Don’t wait. Don’t let fear or conventional wisdom convince you that a race isn’t worth the fight. To every individual feeling scared, disaffected, and overwhelmed by the state of this nation: take heart in this progressive win! Find a political home—with LUCHA, your neighborhood, or another group you believe in. The only way we can build the Arizona and country we deserve is by relentlessly organizing.

Congratulations to the first Latina who will represent Arizona in Congress, Adelita Grijalva. For LUCHA, this victory is proof of what is possible when you bet on the people and show up first. Join our movement! Let’s keep making change and making history together.

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