Her first 100 days

Meet lucky number 218 … Send us to Paris! … And Deja hawks t-shirts.

Voters in Southern Arizona overwhelmingly backed Democrat Adelita Grijalva on Tuesday night, sending her to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill her late father’s seat.

The former Pima County supervisor and longtime Tucson Unified School District board member pulled in more than 68% of the vote. Republican Daniel Butierez garnered nearly 30%. By Wednesday morning, only 20% of registered voters had returned their ballots in the Congressional District 7 special election.

Grijalva will also become the first Latina ever elected to Congress from Arizona.

When Grijalva is sworn in next month, she may quickly pick up a new nickname: “218.” That’s because she is expected to be the deciding vote in a stalled House effort to make federal files on Jeffrey Epstein public. (The minimum number of votes needed to pass the bill through the House is 218.)

After thanking supporters, Grijalva had a message about who Arizona was sending to Washington, D.C.

“Trump is going after the values we hold dearly as Americans. Equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech. Thus far, Congress has acted as his rubber stamp, abdicating their constitutional responsibility as a co-equal branch of government,” she said. “But the voters of Southern Arizona just sent the rest of the country a loud message. We reject the MAGA agenda and we will hold this administration accountable.”

We sat down with Grijalva earlier this week to talk about her first 100 days in office.

Grijalva addresses her supporters shortly after results came in Tuesday night.

Her decades of experience on the school board came through as she talked about her priorities.

One of her first goals will be to shield schoolchildren from cuts in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” She might have another name for it, but she was clear about the stakes.

“When we look at the kind of cuts that are going to impact K-12 systems, I might be pushing for legislation. If we can’t move forward on big things, can we move forward on smaller pieces so we can still have occupational therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy on our campuses throughout the nation?” Grijalva said.

That doesn’t mean she won’t be aiming high once she gets to Washington.

“I do believe we have to put forward big-picture legislation, but then also try to fight for small wins that are going to help, you know, specific communities,” she said.

Grijalva said she also wants to bring the concerns she heard on the campaign trail straight to Capitol Hill.

“The biggest priorities I think are going to be shaped by what I heard from voters throughout the campaign. I believe it’s important to show the public that we’re not just fighting against MAGA or fighting against Trump’s agenda, but we also present a vision for what we’re fighting for,” Grijalva told us.

So what did she hear from Southern Arizona? The price of beef is too high.

Lowering costs for working families is one of her top issues.

“The reality is that too many families are struggling to make ends meet and having to make impossible choices between things like ‘do I buy groceries and do I buy my prescription,’” she said, pointing out that the cost of a pound of beef is now close to the federal hourly minimum wage of $7.25.1

And it isn’t just about hamburgers. She says the rising cost of living and medicine is hitting people who rely on the social safety net the hardest.

“We need to reverse the GOP cuts to Medicaid and protect other programs that many Republicans have had their eyes on for years, like Social Security and Medicare,” she said, noting she is concerned about future cuts.

Since some of those cuts don’t kick in until after next year’s midterm elections, Grijalva sees an opening to work with House Republicans. One area that she hopes might have some crossover appeal is how the “Big, Beautiful Bill” could devastate rural hospitals.

“When you look at the districts, the bright-red districts throughout our nation, they utilize services statistically more often than some of our more blue communities,” she said.

She also says many Trump voters are having second thoughts, which could lead to Republicans breaking ranks on certain issues.

“There are many people that have expressed to me — they didn’t admit that they voted for Trump, but they were like, ‘I thought it was going to be better with him. … You know, my husband lost his job. He was a federal worker. I’m working part-time, looking for full-time work,’” Grijalva said.

Then there is her promise to vote to release the Epstein files on her first day in office and pursue justice for the victims.

“As this has been an issue during the campaign for the Republicans talking about what was in those files and that they were going to be released right away,” Grijalva said. ”The issue now is getting justice for the victims and giving those victims a voice, an opportunity to be heard and seen.”

Of course, legislation isn’t the only thing on her plate. She also has to hire a new staff as she shifts from campaigning to governing. Already, she’s breaking from her father by clearing the decks to bring in her own team of staffers, though she hasn’t made any final hiring decisions yet.

“There are a lot of things … hiring a team that’s going to be able to help and bring energy into the ideas that we’ve had on the campaign and sort of see how we can fulfill the crazy ideas that I have into some workable plan,” she said.

Grijalva will be sworn into office next month.

Broadening horizons: Thanks to a $20 million gift from the Garcia Family Foundation, the University of Arizona is expanding access to study-abroad programs for students, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. It’s the largest-ever donation to the school’s study-abroad program and will help students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate.

A long road: Now that Sun Tran is celebrating its 50th anniversary, local historians are tracing the city’s history with public transit, from a horse-drawn “herdic” in 1882 to today’s fleet of buses, KGUN’s Pat Parris reports.

A difficult read: A member of a cult in Tucson molested a boy hundreds of times at church services, Emily Hamer reports for the Star. The sexual abuse occurred at the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, which the Star has been digging into all year, and which is at the center of several other disturbing stories.

Water rate woes: The Tucson City Council raised water rates for Tucson Water customers who live outside the city limits in June, and the first round of bills just went out, KGUN’s Vanessa Gongora reports. The 19% rate hike wasn’t noticeable for some customers, but it left others feeling a little raw, particularly those who water trees and plants and keep their pool filled.

No price hike from us — just local news at a fair price.

Water station woes: Tucson officials removed a water station at an eastside park that local resident Paula Rangel had installed for unsheltered people and anybody else braving the heat, KVOA’s Jacob Owens reports. City officials said installing water stations requires prior approval from the city and a water dispenser of “unknown origin” could pose a health risk to city residents. Rangel said she regularly checked on the water station and said it was “all used for good.”

We spend a lot of time writing about all the dumbass ideas that come out of our state Legislature.

But occasionally, our lawmakers have good ideas, too!

Here’s one — it’s coming online on Friday alongside most of the other 265 bills that Gov. Katie Hobbs signed into law this year.

Speaking of new laws taking effect this week, Skywolf, our legislative tracking software, is doing a series of webinars you can pop into to hear about how it can help you track bills and make sense of the madness at the Capitol.

• On Thursday, we’ll show you a workflow designed specifically for policy professionals working at municipalities.

• On Friday, we’ve got a webinar designed specifically for associations.

Former Democratic Congressional candidate and social media strategist Deja Foxx started this week with a post reminding CD7 Democrats to go out and vote for her former rival, Adelita Grijalva.

She also gave a shout-out to the Pima County Democratic Party, adding a link to where you can buy the PCDP shirt she was wearing.

The “Left Jab Ringer Tee” will set you back $33, although we are holding out for the “Guy Who Dances on Congress T-Shirt” inspired by Brian Dahl.

Not familiar with Dahl? The Tucson Gallery has a great write-up about him. Yes, he is Tucson City Councilman Kevin Dahl’s son, but we prefer to think about him as the “Guy Who Dances on Congress.”

He might be the next Green Shirt guy in local Democratic circles.

1. Arizona’s minimum wage is $14.70 an hour, but Grijalva’s point is that millions of Americans are struggling to put dinner on the table.