The following is an original production of AZPM News.

♪ PATRIOTIC JINGLE ♪ Good evening and welcome to AZPM News Vote 2026.

I'm News Director David Lee.

Polls are still open with just under two hours to go, the first batch of results expected around 8 p.m.

tonight.

As part of our midterm election coverage, we're delivering you, the voters, an opportunity to get to know the candidates running to represent us in Southern Arizona's congressional districts six and seven.

All four candidates, two incumbents and two challengers, joined host Tony Perkins on the set of The Press Room this election season, uninterrupted and in depth.

Over the next hour, we'll share one-on-one conversations that took place this election season on The Press Room.

The race for District 6 in Arizona is a tight one that could have national ramifications.

Incumbent Congressman Juan Ciscomani is currently seeking his third term in a district he narrowly won in 2022 and 2024.

The district is closely tied to Veterans Affairs, it's home to both Davis-Monthan Air Force Base here in Tucson and Fort Huachuca in Cochise County.

Rural voters have a big stake in CD6 and as in most cases and most races, affordability has taken center stage as a key issue.

Next, we'll hear excerpts from Representative Ciscomani's conversation on The Press Room.

(Tony) Well, we're a few weeks o November election and in those few weeks, a lot of Arizonans in the 6th congressional district are going to be making some trips to the gas pumps and they're going to be seeing higher prices at the pump, they'll be seeing higher prices at the supermarket and at the grocery store, so affordability has turned into a big issue for anyone who's running for Congress or any elected office that has to do with spending or with finances or with money in general.

What can you do to help solve this immediate problem if you're re-elected, these problems that people are facing with day-to-day affordability?

Well, thank you Tony for having me and yeah, so the issue of affordability and the conversations around affordability is what I hear the most about when I travel the district, whether it's here in Pima County or across the rural counties, this is the issue that comes up the most and I've been in office for four years now and this isn't something new, this has been the issue that people have been dealing with and really started right after or around the COVID era when the government pumped in money, was spending out of control and that's what the highest increase in the percentage-wise in the debt that we've had, that obviously government spending is directly correlated to the economy, cost of living and how that goes.

We also saw over 30% inflation increase during the Biden administration, so that jacked up prices and prices haven't come down since then that's the reality for people.

There's more work to be done in this area but it's important to get the historic context here that prices didn't just rise in the last 12 months or so, prices have been on the rise and they've stayed up higher than what we wanted them to.

Of course, overseas conflicts haven't help with that notion as well and other aspects that have messed with the logistics of transportation and so on, these are all things that have added on to this and that's why we need to continue to work on it.

Some of the things that we've done though is passed legislation last year that people are seeing now, benefits of that of not taxing tips, not taxing overtime, not taxing social security for example, the child tax credit being set at a highest level ever and being permanent now, these are all ways that people can keep more of their hard-earned money as prices will start dropping.

But some will also say the tariffs are to blame and you voted in favor of those tariffs with a lot of, most of your Republican colleagues in Congress and by keeping those tariffs into place, what's your response to that issue and the question of whether or not it's been made worse in the past two years?

Well first let's clarify that the tariffs, those were done by the president, there was Congress didn't directly vote on a specific tariff for a specific country, the president has been given the authority to be able to negotiate these agreements and these deals with other countries, no question that other countries were taking advantage of our deals and our agreements.

I've been a firm defender for example, what was once NAFTA and then USMCA that President Trump renegotiated to what it is now, the agreement with Canada and Mexico, for Arizona, Mexico is the number one trading partner times four, I spent the better part of eight years with the Ducey administration managing the Arizona Mexico Commission mainly focused on the trade between Arizona and Mexico, so it's highly important to us.

So as we continue to make sure that our trade agreements are fair and equitable around the globe, we also have to continue to work on things that drop prices.

I'm not a fan particularly of tariffs across the board in an arbitrary way that just applies to everyone, I do think that each country has to be dealt with individually and based on those agreements, we've had better deals with Vietnam for example, with other countries that things have gotten in a better position and quite honestly things with Canada are not going great in those agreements, things with Mexico are going a lot better than they are with even other countries both on the security front, but also on the trade front.

So this is a work in progress that the president ran on, I don't agree with everything that he's done in this area and this is one of the areas where I've been actually pretty vocal if you look at my statements of how tariffs have impacted Arizona and how we could be doing things differently there.

- Right, I mean those statements, I've seen those statements and the question a lot of voters are going to have, especially regarding to these tariffs, you say that you're proud and you are proud of your work across the aisle, your bipartisan approach to things and you've risked the displeasure of your fellow Republicans by reaching across the aisle, why not this issue regarding tariffs?

Well we have reached across the aisle, I mean when you look at the ranking, I'm not just bipartisan, I like to be specific here, I am the most bipartisan member of the delegation, Republican or Democrat, four years running every year that I've been in office, I've been ranked by independent groups as the most bipartisan member, top 20 in the country, so I definitely reach across the aisle.

I have voted against presidential veto overrides, I mean in favor of the override of the presidential veto.

So I have a track record of standing up for the district, whether it's for water or for tariffs, if they would come up for a vote in some extent, specifically with Mexico and Canada that are our number two trading partners, but we also have to look at this and we've known this, everybody has known this, that the relationship on the trade side has been in balance with some of these countries.

So the president came in in an aggressive way, maybe I would have done things differently or the approach would have been different, something needed to be done on that though, and so that's what's happening now where we are today, it's a combination of multiple factors and I'm sure we'll talk about the conflict in Iran in a second, but these are all things that have added on to where we are today.

You said in a recent debate that you opposed parts of the big beautiful bill that passed Congress last year that included some cuts to health care services, but your opponent in the congressional race says it did not stop you from voting for that bill after all and now the health care safety net's at risk.

How do you address this concern regarding health care, especially for people who live in the rural parts of congressional district six?

So the Working Families Tax Cuts Act was one of the largest pieces of legislation that we've seen.

It had generational changes and had a lot of tax cuts and ways that people could be helped with this.

It also strengthened the safety net that we have for social programs.

What I mean by that is when you have programs that right now, for example, Kris Mayes, who is a Democrat, AG, right here the Attorney General in Arizona, she is in the process of prosecuting tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud.

This is happening in Arizona.

She is the one prosecuting them.

This is not a talking point from us or us claiming or me claiming that there's fraud going on.

This is the AG, a Democrat going after individuals, clinics, and organizations that are committing Medicaid fraud.

Every time you commit fraud, that's a dollar stolen from the single mom, from the person with a disability, from the person that is going through a rough time that needs Medicaid benefits.

What we want to do is make sure that we protect these programs for the people that need it the most.

And when you have people committing fraud off that, that's a bad thing.

When you also have people that are, that shouldn't be on these programs, that are on these programs, that is also not a good thing.

When you have people that are not being verified to be able to be on these programs, or you've got somethin that someone that could and should be working, 34 year old with no dependents, perfectly healthy, and they're on these programs, they're taking away from the people that need it the most and it's unsustainable.

So what this bill did is it added work requirements, it added a way to clean up the rules to make sure that people are no longer alive, that name shouldn't be claiming the benefits.

That's what it did.

It also created a fund for rural health care, $167 million coming into rural health care for that purpose.

On top of that, I am working through the Appropriations Committee and we've secured funds for the Wilcox Hospital, for Benson Hospital as well for an ER there, for Mount Graham Regional Health Center, mammography machine there that we're working on getting that funding.

So I'm working on different fronts, not only through the big piece of legislation, but also through the Appropriations Committee to bring in these resources.

Rural health care is very important because when people get their health care reduced in these far areas in the state, it's hard to go to any other area.

So we need to continue to strengthen rural health care.

(Tony) Do you think that's going to be enough to supplement cuts to Medicaid?

Well, it's going to be a part of it.

But remember, what people are claiming to be cuts in Medicaid, they're bundling all this in there that whenever the fraud, the abuse, the waste that has been shaved off these programs, people like my opponent with, one, no knowledge in this area and want to that just repeats what she gets from the Washington DC Democrat machine on what to say and what ads to run.

If you look at her ads, I encourage you to go look at her ads and then go look at ads running in New York and in California and in Florida and in Texas, anywhere else.

It's the exact same ad changing a name for it.

Why?

Because it's a generic message that it's empty rhetoric and a lie of what happened.

I'm giving you specific numbers and statistics of how we're protecting the program and anything that people may perceive as a cut are areas that we are reducing the ways the fraud and the abuse in these programs to protect it for the people that need it the most.

Our state's veterans have some concern about health care too.

And every year you've been in office, you've been in effective increasing funding to help veterans.

But when the Trump administration came up with its government efficiency plan, those DOGE cuts, you voted in favor of those cuts that reduced services.

And that prompted an Army Colonel during this past month to announce his retirement from your Veterans Advisory Council.

Are these cuts doing what they're supposed to do?

These efficiency cuts to make government spending on veterans more efficient or are they causing more pain?

If you look at the VA here in town, the vast majority of veterans that I talked to, they're very happy with their care at the VA.

The issue is wait times and actually being able to get into this care.

So what we've done is we've increased spending, as you mentioned, for the areas that matter the most.

What we had also in the federal VA system, when we came in under the Biden administration, there were millions of dollars given to bonuses for top administrators and executives in the VA.

That's completely unacceptable.

That money and the increase for the VA was not meant for that.

The VA had a system of just receiving more money and trying to throw money at a problem.

Over $3 billion, now a heavy increase for veteran homelessness.

And I don't see that issue getting better either.

So the issue wasn't always just throwing more money at this.

The issue was putting money at the right place at the right time and being able to shave off the top executive bonuses, being able to add accountability to these systems.

And that's what we brought to the table.

So when we have increased the funding, it's a matter of where it goes as well.

And people may take the opportunity for score political points here.

And that's what they will try to do, whether it's somebody that you mentioned or other people.

It's easy to find people that may disagree with this, but the vast majority of veterans, especially in this area, in spite of my opponent having that background, are supporting us for this because they know the work that we've done on the policy side of being in the VA committee and on the appropriations side by being on that committee for funding.

Not to mention the constituent services side of it, over $9 million Tony, that we've been able to return in benefits to our veterans through either VA disability claims or even IRS issues that they've had.

We have taken care of our veterans.

They are the number one priority, over 80,000 of them in our district, and I'll continue to do that.

There are some veterans in Tucson who disagree.

They've gone to your office specifically to talk to you about this.

However, they're sort of reaching roadblocks in trying to get in touch with you.

And that brings a question about accessibility and how you're able to respond to the issues that they have.

For these veterans?

Yes.

I'll be happy to work with any veteran that has an issue.

It seems that you like quoting people that are critical of my office.

You should try to go talk to all the people that are supportive of our office.

There's a reason why I won this district twice in the toughest district in the country and why we won the vast majority of veterans.

Are you going to be able to find a few veterans that when they get political in this issue, sure, are you even going to find veterans that may have not had the everything resolved from our office?

We want to take care of every veteran out there.

We want to make sure that we give them the right service and our doors are always open and accessible.

I have a full-time person hired in my office just to take care of our veterans.

We have veteran events.

I go to the veteran fairs.

My office is always at them.

I personally go to many of these events.

We are very accessible to our veterans.

And maybe you should go try talk to the veterans that have been served.

Maybe some of the ones will be happy to give you some references for the veterans that have received over $9 million in return.

I think you'll be able to balance your view there, Tony.

All right.

Congress is being asked a lot of questions regarding the war in Iran.

And anybody who's running for office in your position is having to make some statements regarding that.

Now, you voted against the War Powers Resolution earlier this month.

And the question is, shouldn't Congress have more of a say as to what's happening in that conflict?

Yes, we do.

Congress should have a strong say in this.

We have the first point of the mission, the first effective point of why the mission even started has been completed, which is to make sure that Iran does not have the immediate capability of creating not only nuclear weapons, but it was a battle of dismantling their capabilities of having drone capacity and also small rockets to protect their nuclear program.

That was a big risk.

Now, this that we've seen here with Iran, every president in my lifetime, and possibly in your lifetime as well, has talked about the threat that Iran poses to the rest of the world.

Iran has been killing our troops for the better part of 40 to 50 years.

They've been attacking us.

They've been claiming out of their own government buildings and sessions as if it was in the House floor, "Death to America."

They've been funding terrorist groups like the Houthis, like Hamas, like Hezbollah, that not only destabilize the Middle East, but also launch attacks against our troops.

This has been an enemy of the free world for decades.

And every president has talked about not allowing them to have nuclear weapons.

When you get to the point that that is about to happen, the president acted on that information and dismantled their program.

We are now into another phase of the conflict that we need to wrap up immediately.

This is a phase of what's going to happen after Iran did not have that capability, which they shouldn't have had.

And the world is a better place for those actions.

And with the Ayatollah not being in power anymore, that is a good thing for the world as well.

So the president had that authority to act that way.

Congress needs to be absolutely involved in this.

And part of our involvement, that many of my colleagues and myself have been calling for, is a conclusion to this program, to this conflict, and to this mission as soon as possible.

And for those who are critical of Congress on this issue and other issues, especially this Congress, the one where you currently serve, they say it needs to be stronger.

And if you don't use your voice, those who represent feel voiceless and sort of helpless.

You've said you've been trying to fight the partisanship in Congress.

In the recent debate, you said you want to put labels aside and keep fighting for the American dream.

If you're reelected, what can you do to achieve that goal of connecting this bipartisan divide?

We need to lead by example, and I have done that.

This is exactly what we need to do.

It's results.

When people look at me and look at my record, they may not agree with everything that we've done.

And when you have a district that is one-third Republican, one-third Democrat, and one-third Independent, no, you're not going to agree with everything.

Not everyone's going to agree with everyone, but it's the ability to still work together and be able to get results.

That's what I've offered this district, and that's what we've been able to do the last four years.

In his previous two races, Representative Ciscomani defeated Democrat Kirsten Engel.

This election, he faces a new opponent in Joanna Mendoza.

She touts her experience as a Marine as one way she's connected to the voters in CD6.

We hear from her next.

Now, you grew up facing a difficult economic reality, and people in Arizona and elsewhere across the country are also facing difficulties economically.

In this election, voters can see the high prices at the supermarkets and at gas pumps.

Day-to-day affordability has become an issue in the November election.

Now, if you are elected to lead a change in the economic reality for Southern Arizonans facing these difficult times, what is the first thing you would like to do to confront that situation?

Well, I mean, you're absolutely Let me start by saying that, you know, you mentioned that I grew up in rural poverty in a small rural farming community called Eloy in Pinal County.

And, you know, my parents worked really hard.

They were farm workers.

I consider myself a proud daughter of farm workers.

And we relied on those programs a lot growing up.

And so, you know, when you'd go to the grocery store and you use food stamps, people knew that when you used the funny money that you did not have any.

And so people still use those programs today to get, you know, through difficult times.

And unfortunately, Mr.

Ciscomani voted for HR1 and, you know, the administration's agenda on, you know, costs, raising costs, anything from tariffs to now close to, if not over now, 500,000, you know, people who are being impacted by the lack of food assistance.

And so there's a couple of things that we need to do.

We need to reinstate these programs.

Now, there's a way to ensure that we are addressing any concerns about fraud, but we also need to make sure that, you know, families who are eligible to receive that food assistance actually get it, especially the kids.

The other thing that we can work on are tariffs, you know, the Trump administration, again, supported by Mr.

Ciscomani, 100% of the time he has voted with this administration, you know, our relationship with one of our oldest trading partners, Mexico, is, I mean, it's ruined.

And the president has, you know, implemented these tariffs.

It's raising the cost for everyone.

And those border communities in the districts that we share about 80 miles of border with Mexico, they rely, their economy rely on good legal trade with Mexico and the tariffs are obviously impacting everything from, you know, the cost of construction materials to everyday goods that families use.

So I think those are two things that we can do, that we can look at.

The other thing is, you know, let's make those tax cuts on overtime and tips.

Let's make those permanent.

So, you know, under HR1, the tax cuts for overtime and no taxes on tips is not permanent.

It's only for an extended period of time.

However, the tax cuts for billionaires are.

And I think that this administration has gotten that wrong and we should be providing an opportunity for people to be able to support not only their families, but have a good quality of life.

So I think we can, there's a couple of things we can do.

Let's switch over to healthcare.

Some differences of opinion between yourself and your opponent, Mr.

Ciscomani, on how things are being handled.

Mr.

Ciscomani voted in favor of the HR1, Big Beautiful Bill that directed federal spending cuts.

But he says if he pushed Republican leadership to take items out of the bill that would have hurt rural families, including cuts in Medicaid.

Now, he went ahead and voted for the bill anyway.

(Mendoza) Yep.

And he says it wasn't perfect, but added that it built a framework for compromise that's necessary if you're gonna be a leader in Congress.

My question for you is how would you have approached this issue knowing that you're not gonna get everything you wanted, but some of the important things need to be addressed?

Well, look, Mr.

Ciscomani was sent to Washington to advocate on behalf of his constituents, us.

And he acknowledged in a letter with several other Republicans that Medicaid cuts would devastate folks in the district.

And then he turned around and he voted for it anyways.

Now, as a member of Congress, as an elected leader, you have a responsibility to the people that you have been elected to serve.

And that includes pushing back on an administration that wants to take healthcare away from people, Medicaid access, I grew up on it, people who qualify for this health insurance.

But not only did they do the Medicaid cuts, they also, Mr.

Ciscomani voted against expanding the ACA subsidies.

Now with the cost of inflation, the cost of goods, everything happening in the economy right now, the cost of gas, groceries, utilities, they're taking away these small little things that help people get by.

There are tons of people who got their plans on the marketplace through the Affordable Care Act.

And because their premiums have gone up several hundred dollars now they're not renewing their plans.

And during a time in the fall and the winter where people usually get sick, you know, you get the flu, you get all kinds of other bugs happening and it is just absolutely, I feel that it is just, it's horrible, it's a disgrace.

And it doesn't reflect the values of someone who is interested in serving people in this district.

Now your opponent said that the Rural Health Transformation Program that he supports deals with workforce development and improvements in healthcare technology.

Does that make up for any of the reductions created by the Trump administration's push for less spending?

Well look, Tony, I will tell you, it's like bringing a glass of water to a fight or to a fire that you started, right?

The glass of water is just not nearly enough.

So they're taking cuts and then they're trying to put money back in to say, oh look, this is what we're doing, but that money doesn't even cover the complete, you know, cost and what was actually taken out.

You know, I grew up in a rural community.

I know what it's like to not have access to healthcare.

When I moved back from retiring from the Marine Corps, my son, you know, brand new baby, I had a hard time finding a pediatrician because I put down roots in the same communities in which I grew up in, in Pinal County.

And so folks in rural communities, they have a lot of challenges and they're penalized even more by the policies that this administration is passing and that Ciscomani is voting for.

We were down in Sierra Vista talking to a group of veteran service organizations.

And, you know, one of the service officers, he mentioned that there's a veteran in the community who can't get transportation to the VA.

And I'm moving on kind of to the VA because this is still an issue as well with healthcare.

And he has cancer as a Vietnam veteran.

And, you know, they were trying to raise money so that they could, you know, pay for gas to take this veteran to get his cancer treatment at the Tuscon VA.

So I will tell you, you know, is that really meeting the objective of ensuring that people in our rural communities have access to the healthcare they need?

Not only that, Tony, but I mean, Juan Ciscomani was thrilled and ecstatic to support Elon Musk's DOGE effort, which, you know, hit our federal workers really hard, including those that work at the Tucson VA.

And we're seeing that, there's always shortage of doctors everywhere and especially at the VA, but DOGE, I mean, they're talking about 40,000 federal workers were impacted by what DOGE did and Mr.

Ciscomani was happy to support it.

That's not fulfilling the promise to our veterans to ensure that we're taking care of them when we send them off to combat.

(Tony) All right, we'll get to the veterans issues in just a couple minutes.

(Mendoza) Okay, fantastic.

First, I wanted to ask you about this.

The Arizona Republic reported on August 13th that you wrongfully got the state aid to education property tax benefit on two homes and your opponent has seized on this and has called you a tax cheat.

What is the full story about that?

Well, and you know, we've said this, we provided a statement when they reached out and asked us, it was a mistake.

I mean, it was an administrative oversight.

I didn't fill the paperwork out at the county assessor's office, it's been taken care of.

And I think it actually equated to like $400 that, you know, that will be paid.

But you know, the bigger issue here is that, you know, Mr.

Ciscomani is looking for any reason to discredit me or to, you know, make me seem like I'm this really scary person because he knows that the legislation and the agenda that he is supporting under this administration is hurting people and he has no record to run on it.

Why isn't he talking about the six times that he voted for the war in Iran that are putting America's sons and daughters in place?

I mean, in danger in harm's way.

Why isn't he talking about, you know, the 500,000 people that have been impacted by the SNAP cuts?

Medicaid, I mean, there's gonna be tons.

I think the reporting said 400,000 individuals will lose access, healthcare to access.

And so why aren't those the topics, instead he's resulting to smears and you know, people are tired of that, Tony.

They don't want to hear that.

They want results and they want solutions.

Now, I said we're gonna get an opportunity to talk more about the veterans' issues.

(Mendoza) Yes, please.

Now, you joined the military when you were 17 years old and you served 20 years.

You went to Iraq and Afghanistan and you have specific experience as to what those who serve this country come home to.

(Mendoza) Yeah.

What is your view regarding the DOGE cuts made to the Department of Veterans Affairs that changed what your opponent and other Republicans in Congress say makes the department run more efficiently?

Well, look, I mean, I left my rural community because there was no economic opportunity.

You know, and kids are still facing that today who grew up in small towns like Eloy, like mine.

And you know, you joined the military as a way to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

And you know, what we're seeing right now under this administration is this betrayal to our nation's veterans and their families.

Again, I talked about the DOGE cuts.

I mean, Elon Musk went in, took a chainsaw, right, to federal programs that were there to support our veterans and their families.

And Ciscomani stood by and said absolutely nothing about it.

This district has about 80,000 veterans that call it home.

We have a couple of military bases.

And so this is something that is a top of mind for folks.

I've talked to veterans in the district who are federal workers who are impacted by the cuts, by the DOGE cuts, who are waiting for long periods just to get care at the Tucson VA.

I get my care there.

And I will tell you that sometimes it's months before you can get an appointment.

That's not fulfilling our promise to our veterans.

And you know, I don't know if you're gonna bring up the war in Iran, but you know, now we're seeing that under this administration recklessly putting our kids in harm's way.

I spent time in Iraq, two tours to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.

We were there for 20 years in the Middle East.

This administration promised no more forever wars.

And what do we have?

We have another war in the Middle East under this, this, you know, "Oh, well, Iran can't get, you know, access to nuclear weapons."

Yes, we know that.

Everybody knows that.

We've been saying that it's been a longstanding policy within the United States.

So why not allow Congress to pass a war powers resolution so that we can make sure our troops have the resources they need and the approval from Congress and the American people.

All right, now Congress is being criticized by veterans for not taking a strong enough role in policing the federal government's pursuit of the war against Iran.

Mr.

Ciscomani voted against the war resolution, war powers resolution earlier this month.

So the question is, shouldn't Congress have more of a say on what's happening in the conflict, something more than just how much money the United States is putting into it?

(Mendoza) Absolutely.

I mean, Congress has a responsibility for oversight, not just appropriating money, to ensuring that, you know, our servicemen and women who are being sent into harm's way, that there is a measure of success, that there's a strategy, and that there is, that they have the resources that they need now.

I know we've all seen the reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln that, you know, there were sailors that were, you know, trying to take their own lives because of the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

I will tell you, just spending 20 years in the military and especially in the Marine Corps, you take care.

If you're ever put in a position privileged enough to lead people, you put your needs behind theirs.

They eat first, they get medical care first, they get everything that they need.

Under this administration, we're not seeing that certainly not under Secretary Hegseth.

And Mr.

Ciscomani doesn't understand the service and sacrifice that many of us make to make sure that we're upholding the Constitution and that we're protecting the American people.

And some of that criticism goes toward Democrats as well as Republicans.

(Mendoza) Oh yeah.

To you, what is not being said about the war in Iran that should be said?

Well, look, there needs to be a strategy.

There needs to be a plan.

I will tell you that there's a human cost to this.

It's not just about gas prices.

And that is impacting people as well.

I mean, people can't afford to get to work, especially in rural communities.

The cost of everything is rising.

But I will tell you, as we've been touring the district and we've been talking to, you know, not just Democrats, we've been talking to anyone who is interested in leading.

We've spoken to conservative parents.

And what they have said is that they are terrified under this administration that their kids are gonna come back and flag draped coffins.

So, you know, I have been saying for months now that Congress needs to, you know, create a bipartisan congressional delegation to conduct an investigation on what happened on the USS Abraham Lincoln to ensure that we are doing right by the men and women who are volunteering to sacrifice their lives in service for this country.

All right.

Talking about bipartisanship, you know, in this district, you're going to have to get some votes that went toward Mr.

Ciscomani the last time.

When voters in the district make up their minds, a lot of them will want to know what you're going to do to reach across the aisle to come to agreement with Republicans.

And in the process, you risk making Democrats upset as well.

How do you accomplish this balance in an atmosphere that's likely to be just as difficult in the future as it is now?

Yeah, well, that's the problem with our government and politics today is that there's just too much partisanship and it's creating divides, you know, not only in government that is not, you know, doing what it's supposed to do.

And it's also creating a divide in our neighborhoods, right?

You know, neighbor against neighbor, and we cannot have that.

But Tony, bipartisanship isn't just a talking point.

You know, that requires real leadership and it requires action.

So you can talk all day, but if you're not doing anything, people see that.

They see that there's a lot of talk and there's not a lot of walk and there's not a lot of action.

People want results.

They want relief right now, especially because they're suffering.

And I will tell you that because of my 20 years in the military and, you know, leading men and women for a deploy to, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan, you know, leading men and women here in the United States, is that you have to work together as a team.

You don't go around asking service members, "Are you a Democrat?

You know, are you a Republican?"

We don't do that.

We train together.

We understand the mission.

We have each other's backs and that's how we get stuff done.

And that's what we're missing in Congress right now.

And I'm ready to take that kind of leadership and action to Washington to get stuff done for people here in Arizona.

Congressional District 7 spans most of southwestern Arizona and contains a more than 350 mile stretch of the southern border with Mexico from Yuma to Douglas.

Incumbent Representative Adelita Grijalva won the seat in a 2025 special election.

She's now seeking her first full term facing Republican, Daniel Butierez for a second time at the polls.

We hear from Representative Grijalva now on issues spanning from immigration to water, from data centers to affordability.

Election results tend to turn on economic issues.

And although the federal government claims the economy is doing fine, the reality for some Arizona families is quite different.

If given the chance, what could the Congress do to make everyday life more affordable for citizens?

Well, I literally just came from an affordability forum, like a town hall with a nonprofit organization and our city of Tucson mayor talking about what are the issues that we need support from.

And so much of what the city of Tucson is doing or Pima County is doing, any other local municipality is doing that with federal funds.

And so when you look at the cuts that are coming that are proposed for the next budget year, $3.8 billion out of HUD, that's affordable housing, section eight housing, assistance with down payments for first time home buyers.

When that's gone, it leaves our local communities in a really significant bind.

And when you look at the cost of everything, the average family in Southern Arizona is paying $3,300 more this year than they did last year when it comes to the basics.

Like what I believe is like a right, you should be able to feed your family, you should be able to have a home and roof over your head, you should be able to pay for your utility bills without going broke, you should be able to go to the doctor and not worry about some of the other, whether you're gonna put food on the table or pay that doctor bill, those are the things that our families are going through right now.

I just went to put gas in my car and it was $81.

Not a lot of people can absorb that and couple that with childcare costs, which are about almost $16,000 a year here in Southern Arizona.

It's hard for people to make ends meet.

So some of the inroads that we've done, like the 21st century housing bill that passed bipartisan, bicameral and sat on Trump's desk for 10 days because he refused to sign it because it was a big yawn.

And that was a quote, it passed.

And while it doesn't go as far as I would like to see it go, at least we're helping some people and that is a step in the right direction, but we can do more once we have more balance in Congress.

Let's take a look at one specific instance.

Say a trip to the grocery store, how much is that different now than it was when you won the special?

Well, I just know, I have three kids there.

I have three teenagers and so they will eat us out of house and home if we let them.

But two little bags of groceries easily costs $100.

You get a pasta, a salad, a carb and a protein and maybe a drink or two or some fruit and you're easily at $100.

And so many people were kicked off food assistance and SNAP.

We had 400,000 families that don't have access to healthcare anymore.

Those are the costs and those costs are real.

When right now in Arizona, AC is not a luxury.

It's a necessity.

Too many people are like having heat related illness so you need to run that AC unit at an average cost of about $300 more a month or $300 a month depending on the size.

That gets very expensive and out of reach for a lot of families.

When we were talking about COVID-19, it seems like a lifetime ago now and even the doge cuts seem to be so far in the past.

What is the aspect of the Southern Arizona workforce that you can help to sort of regenerate the economy for those folks?

The biggest issue for me is those doge cuts were federal jobs that were unilaterally, didn't have any rhyme or reason.

I think they looked at like the VA, for example, and said, "Oh, that's a big chunk of money.

Let's go ahead and cut that."

A lot of those people that worked at the VA are veterans.

A lot of those federal jobs were veterans.

So when I get frustrated at the hypocrisy sometimes where we say, "We're all American and we believe in our people."

And if you risk your life for this country, you deserve benefits.

But it is literally the Republican party that touts that the most and is quickest to make those cuts.

So I feel like one of the things we can do is look at those doge cuts and reverse them.

And if people say, "Well, where's that money gonna come from?"

Well, right now, right now, we are paying a billion dollars a day in a war that was not authorized by Congress in a military kind of maneuver that has never been fully called a war, but we're paying a billion dollars a day.

So if we can find the funds for that, we can find the funds to house people, get people healthcare, and bring down the costs of everyday groceries.

And one of the bills that I co-sponsored was a price gouging, stopping price gouging, especially for those necessary items.

Now let's switch gears and talk about the environment.

Last March, you helped launch a first ever congressional caucus focused on environmental justice.

And your family, of course, carries a lot of weight when it comes to environmental issues and conservation, protection of public lands in Arizona.

In the current debate on data centers and their effect on the environment, where should they be built?

And how can Arizona balance the benefit of technology and the economy with the facilities that they can bring to the state?

This is where federal guardrails are really gonna be critical.

I've talked to some of my colleagues across the aisle, and in their communities, the data centers that were built created their own source of energy that was off the grid, created so it doesn't impact the cost for everyone else, but also had to create their own water purifying and water treatment in order to be able to show the minimal amount of water that's used.

That's something that's happening in individual communities, not something that's happening across the board.

And this is where I believe the federal government needs to put those guardrails in for data centers and AI.

When we look at the impact here locally, I mean, look at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, people are talking about how low it is.

Those are real life consequences to living in a desert and still putting up data centers.

There are some communities where it's easier to do, maybe they have more water, but I'm remembering very clearly our family's history with water contamination and the sunny side plume that both my mom and dad grew up in, and that literally I have cancers on both sides of my family as I believe is a direct result of being poisoned for a decade.

Those are the things that we have to safeguard for future generations and for the people that are living here.

And AI has been built into nearly everything, every search engine, every app, it's part of a default process.

And we have let this technology get ahead of any federal regulation to make sure that we're safeguarding our community members.

And now we're doing backpedaling and trying to create programs and supports when the cat has sort of been out of the bag, so to speak.

Let me ask you a couple of questions about immigration and that's been a contentious issue throughout your first year in office.

Of course, you conducted a visit to a detention facility, including personal visits with Karla Toledo.

(Grijalva) Yes.

And although her case was dismissed, but she was temporarily detained.

What should immigration enforcement really look like?

Well, for Karla Toledo specifically, they dismissed it short term and then brought charges back again.

So she has a court hearing coming up here shortly.

I think that this immigration policy right now is built on cruelty, treating people inhumanely and not honoring what they have done for this country.

I'm the proud granddaughter of a bracero, a man who came to this country from Mexico to work and build a better life.

And my Nana and him raised a member of Congress, a nurse and a social worker.

All of them have higher degrees.

That is the American dream.

And when you're cutting off access and changing the rules for people, that's the problem.

Right now, even if you have the money to pay an incredible amount of money to have your own private attorney, there is still no rhyme or reason for why people are getting picked up.

And ICE detention has exploded.

We have 60,000 people in ICE custody.

We have 76 people who have died in ICE custody or shortly after leaving the detention facility.

That has to be investigated.

And when you look at the sweetheart deals that people like CoreCivic, for example, the company that's running a lot of the detention facilities has had, and look at, follow the money where they have given money to Trump or given money to Freedom 250.

To Trump's inauguration.

I mean there's connections there.

And so I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform, period.

We need to make sure that our DACA recipients have a pathway to citizenship.

Those that have temporary protected status need to have a pathway to citizenship and protection.

And we need to make it easier and not so expensive for people to go through a process.

And we need to fully fund our immigration courts, our judges and attorneys.

That's something we have to do.

And we, I put in a bill, it's the Veterans Visa and Protection Act to protect our veterans from being deported because many of them have been deported, and also to protect sensitive locations.

So our classrooms, our doctor's offices, our medical facilities, our churches, those are sensitive locations that people should be able to go to those spaces without fear of being detained by ICE.

Let's turn to the ongoing construction at the border wall.

(Grijalva) Yeah.

The Tohono O'odham Nation recently faced off with DHS about wall construction.

You've put yourself at the forefront of speaking on behalf of tribal sovereignty.

So what should we do to maintain a safe and secure border?

Well, we need to modernize our ports of entry.

We have the technology, we don't have the staffing in order to make sure that we're expediting things safely through those spaces, all of our ports of entry.

We have the funding that was set aside and then that was swept by this administration.

And where I am thinking of specifically in Quitobaquito Springs, where there is a natural spring in the middle of the desert that is sacred to the Tohono O'odham and other tribes, it's not establishing a singular wall.

They're establishing a second border wall.

It's almost like they have so much money, they don't know what to do with it, so there doing th and causing an incredible amount of destruction in their wake and things that are irreplaceable.

Daniel Butierez has made affordability and homelessness central touch points of his campaign this election cycle.

He's also making it clear that he's not a candidate defined by party lines.

Up next is part of his conversat with Press Room host Tony Perkins as he touches on the major issues facing Congressional District 7.

Now you're a successful business owner, but your life story also includes an arrest on drug charges, time spent in prison, and ultimately exoneration after almost 30 years.

So the question is this, why do you want to join Congress?

Because there's things that I've seen throughout my walk that need to be fixed and addressed, and there are things that I could fix and address that others can't.

Mainly I see this whole world in a different light than other people see it.

For example, when I first walked out of prison and the first time and when I got paroled, I was getting ready to light up a cigarette.

I used to smoke years ago.

I was getting ready to light up a cigarette.

My dad goes, "You can't smoke here."

"So what are you talking about, dad?

Because it was in a restaurant.

And the laws had changed while I had been in there.

And I told him, I said, "Dad, I thought we won World War III."

But so many things I was seeing in the outside reminded me of things I'd seen in prison.

And I felt like I just walked out of one prison into a bigger prison because our rights are slowly being taken away.

And I felt that something needed to be done.

Let's get to some of the issues affecting the residents and voters in the 7th congressional district, starting with the economy.

The federal government quotes numbers.

It says that the economy is doing fine.

But the reality for a lot of Arizona families is a lot different.

Food they buy at supermarkets is too expensive.

They have trouble making ends meet.

Affordability is an issue for people needing childcare and housing.

If given the chance, what can you do in Congress to make life more affordable for Arizonans who are having trouble?

Well, I would actually focus on bringing industries, private industry, into the CD7.

And CD7 is the poorest of all the districts in Arizona, so we do see it worse than everybody else does.

But the big thing is stores can't continue to function.

Your small businesses can't function.

In order for them to make the money, to grow other small businesses, is to bring industries in that are high paying industries and give them Arizonans jobs.

How about immigration?

And that's been a big issue, especially over the last couple of years.

Everybody has their vision of immigration reform.

I'm going to ask you what your vision is.

What should immigration reform look like to you?

Well, I've been looking at the Dignity Act, which I brought up in the debate.

I've had a lot of pushback from some Republicans on it because they don't like it, which I said at the debate.

There's going to be a lot of Republicans don't like it.

A lot of Democrats don't like it.

But that's how negotiations work.

To me, I think it's a fair option.

It allows people that are already here, that have been here five years or longer, to be viewed to get legal documentation to be here so that they can work, pay taxes, and strive to get their immigration status taken care of.

In the way I thought a lot of Republicans would like, because it does enforce removing those that came in that we didn't know who they were, to be removed and come in the right way.

And it also establishes hiring more judges to process people faster.

I thought it was a good plan, but you know, and a lot of Republicans did agree it was a good plan, but there's a few that didn't.

Do you feel comfortable going against people in your own party on this plan?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I'm here to fix things.

And it doesn't matter if, well, let's face it.

The biggest majority of CD7 is Democrats and independents.

Okay.

Republicans is a small group.

So if I go in to represent CD7, I'm going in there to represent the larger groups.

And I guarantee you, if I don't represent those larger groups, I'll be a one term candidate.

And it's that simple.

But if I go in there and I fix the things that I said I want to go in and fix, then I'll have Republicans and Democrats vote for me next time.

All right.

And now let's turn to health care.

And I've found in my research on your life that members of your own family have had issues with health care being so expensive.

And this is something a lot of Arizonans who are vulnerable have that same experience.

How do you fund the system, health care system, when the most vulnerable people in our society are feeling restrictions that have been imposed by the federal government over the past couple of years?

Well, I can tell you this.

I went out and interviewed a lot of people the other day.

And I put it out.

I did a post on my Facebook because this health care issue is huge.

And the working people can't afford it.

Me included.

I watched our health care crash back 14 years ago.

I had health care insurance.

It was $79 a month.

It was good health care insurance.

I didn't have this huge deductible I had to pay to get access.

Then they took that away.

And I went under the Obamacare.

I went under that.

And my rates continued to go up until it hit $800 a month.

I couldn't afford it.

And so I was out talking to people.

All kinds of working people don't have health care out there.

And something needs to be done.

And my opinion is I think the insurance companies are crooked.

I think they're making billions and billions of dollars off of the hardworking people of Arizona.

And we need to fix it.

It sounds like you want reform.

You want some restrictions.

You want some regulation.

Yeah, absolutely.

Regulation is not a really popular word.

No, it's not.

And I'll tell you something else that's not popular.

And I've looked at this quite a bit.

You know, the VA has universal health care.

And it works.

And we might want to start looking towards that option.

And those that want the insuranc should be able to continue getting their insurance if that's what they want.

But we need to open up access for people that simply can't afford it.

And they work every day.

I mean, my employees, I'm an employer.

And I would love to buy my employees health care.

But I don't even have it.

I mean, that's where a small business is.

You can go out and talk to small businesses.

They can't afford to get that health care.

So it is something that needs to be addressed and something needs to be fixed.

Now, let's look at water.

And that issue is top of mind for a lot of Arizonans, especially in the last few weeks with a new plan for the Colorado River.

What's your view, first of all, though, on data centers and the natural resources that they use, the water they use?

The Colorado River Plan promises cutbacks for Arizona.

What is the solution you suggest regarding these companies that are in such a hurry to build these products?

Well, my opinion, I said during the debate, and I'll say it again, I think these data centers should be building an infrastruc to supply the water before they build the data center.

That would eliminate all these people being upset.

A lot of them, not all of them.

You're never going to have everybody happy.

It's just never going to happen.

But you would have a lot of people satisfied if they would do something like that.

And as far as the water goes, I think private industry needs to set up and set up a plant to desalinate water from the ocean and bring it in and sell it to the states.

Private organization could do that and they could sell it.

And these big industries that we're putting in Arizona should flip the bill for it and pay for the water to come in.

That would make a lot of people happy.

And it's something that would address the issue that we have of our water.

And I just think it would stabilize it all.

Two critical races, four candidates all vying for congressional office.

This is an important election, one that could tip the balance of power in Congress.

At AZPM News, I believe it's our responsibility to bring the voices of these candidates, largely unedited and unfiltered, to you at home as you play your role in our nation's democracy.

There's still time to vote.

Polls are open in our area until 7 p.m.

And of course, you can continue to get your election coverage all night long and throughout the rest of the week right here on PBS 6, NPR 89.1 or online at azpmnews.org.

On behalf of the entire AZPM News team, thanks for spending some time with us tonight.

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