Monday night’s Republican primary debate started with an attack, but was mostly marked by agreement between the three candidates for the U.S. House from District 7 — Daniel Butierez Sr., Jorge Rivas and Jimmy Rodriguez. The topic that began the debate and which took up most of the time — a full third of the entire debate — was the border.
While all three candidates generally agreed on Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass deportation efforts, Rodriguez said he wanted to carve out some paths to legalization and citizenship. Butierez stressed finishing building the border wall, and Rivas suggested people trafficking drugs across the border should face the death penalty.
The debate aired at 6 p.m., June 9, and is available to watch here.
In his opening statement, Butierez went after Jorge Rivas, claiming that Rivas left El Salvador when he was 17 instead of staying and fighting for his country. Rivas later defended himself, saying Butierez was wrong about how old he was when he migrated to the United States.
They both accused each other of being dishonest about Rivas’s history, and Rivas, in his closing statement, reminded voters that Butierez previously struggled with addiction and spent ten years in prison.
Besides those flare-ups, the candidates took turns criticizing Democrats — especially Biden — and praising the Trump administration.
Responding to the night’s first question about the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests against ICE arrests, Butierez said the people of LA were throwing a “temper tantrum.” All three candidates supported the troop deployment to Southern California.
Rodriguez and Rivas expressed qualified support for Dreamers, or DACA recipients, while Butierez said he wasn’t happy with allowing Dreamers a pathway to citizenship.
Rivas supported the idea of instituting a death penalty for people convicted of dealing drugs, specifying to reporters after the debate that his proposed death penalty would apply to people trafficking drugs across the border and selling drugs in the interior of the country.
Butierez used his closing statement to say that despite not agreeing with Raúl Grijalva about anything, Grijalva served the country for 50 years and deserves respect.
Rivas, in his closing statement, said that he has high moral values and a mission to accomplish. He thanked viewers in Spanish, adding, “I believe in God very much. I have never done drugs.”
Rodriguez, striking a center path, said he was running as a Republican, but was going to unite the district “and do what’s right for Arizona.”
Representation of this Southern Arizona district is open for the first time in more than two decades. U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat, had represented the area since 2003 before he died in March at age 77 from complications related to lung-cancer treatment. His daughter, Adelita Grijalva, is running as a Democrat.
It’s a crowded race, with five Democrats, three Republicans and four write-in candidates. All of the Republicans participated in the debate. They are Daniel Butierez Sr., Jorge Rivas and Jimmy Rodriguez.
Early voting starts June 18 and the July 15 primary election will narrow the field. The winner of the Republican primary will face the winning Democrat in the special general election in September. The person elected will serve through 2026.
District 7 stretches along the U.S.-México border and includes parts of six counties: Pima, Santa Cruz, Yuma, Cochise, Maricopa and Pinal as well as four sovereign tribal nations: the Cocopah, Pascua Yaqui, Quechan and Tohono O’odham. The district is 60% Hispanic.
Republicans are the minority party in this district. As of April, 40% of voters in this district are registered Democrats, 37% are independents, 21% are Republicans and 2% belong to other political parties.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
