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Daniel Butierez is the Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democrat Adelita Grijalva in Arizona Congressional District 7 in the general election.

He's a small business owner, a third generation Arizonan, and he says it's time for a change for the district this November.

What are his views on economic affordability, the next step for immigration reform, and how does he feel about balancing data centers with the state's water concerns?

We'll ask those questions on The Press Room, starting now.

[Music] Hello, and welcome to The Press Room.

I'm Tony Perkins.

Arizona's 7th Congressional District stretches across the entire southern border with Mexico.

It reaches as far north as suburban Phoenix and westward to Yuma, and includes Tucson.

Daniel Butierez emerged from the Republican primary election to challenge Democratic incumbent Adelita Grijalva to represent the district in Washington.

And he joins us here in The Press Room.

Daniel Butierez, thanks for being here.

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, 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, and 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 why I'd 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'd just walked out of one prison and into a bigger prison, because our rights are slowly being taken away.

And I felt that something needed to be done.

What about that experience gave you some insight as to what people are facing on a day-to-day basis in Arizona?

Well, the big thing is, in prison, they'd take things from you.

Like they took our hot pots, our law libraries, our weight equipment, and they always did it for the reason, cigarettes, for example.

Someone sued the prison because they were in a room where someone smoked.

So they took everything.

Every time one incident impacted the system, everybody was for, "Well, let's get rid of this thing."

And it's the same thing out here.

You have a gun.

Someone gets shot by a gun in a shootout.

Everyone wants to take the gun.

And a lot of people get behind it because it sounds like a good idea.

But if we give up these rights, we will never get them back, just like in the prison.

All right.

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.

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.

If we don't have people there to buy our services or our goods, and if people aren't making enough money at the jobs they're at, they're going to paint their own house.

They're not going to call me to come and paint their house.

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.

You said in your debate with Congresswoman Garhava a few weeks ago that as a small business owner, you understand what working families are up against.

What is it about your background that gives you that insight?

Well, I've been homeless.

I've overcome a lot of obstacles in my life.

I've struggled to get where I am today, and now I help others get to where they are, or where they can get to where I am, I should say, like, you know, help employees lay out a plan to get them in their own house, get them their own properties, things to help them get ahead.

All right.

Now, 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.

And in the way, you know, 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 if well, let's face it, the biggest majority of CD 7 is Democrats and independents.

OK, 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 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.

OK.

And we might want to start looking towards that option.

And those that want the insurance should be able to continue getting their insurance.

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.

Let's talk about housing and homelessness.

We spoke a little bit about that a few minutes ago.

A lot of people living in Arizona experience extreme poverty.

You say that you've experienced it yourself to some extent.

And the question is, why do you think federal money is being squandered in the effort to help people find a safe and secure place to live?

Because I believe they're going to get about everything the wrong way.

I got ahead by buying a house.

I bought a house when the housing market crashed.

I went in and bought a house that was not ready to be lived in.

So I had to pay cash.

I paid forty five thousand cash for it.

I happen to have the skills to fix that house.

So I fixed that house, made everything work.

I wound up selling that house for one hundred fifty thousand.

So it is doable for a person with a you know, that's got a desire and a passion to overcome obstacles.

But not everyone has that.

So some people are going to need help.

And all my life I could have used things to get help.

I chose to do everything on my own.

My son's the same way I've raised my kids the same way.

I'm Hispanic.

I could have used it to get help for my small business.

I chose not to do that.

I just believe for my own pride, I need to do it on my own.

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 infrastructure to supply the water before they build the data center.

That would eliminate all these people being upset.

Well, 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 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.

But the data centers, do you think we should slow down tech?

We should slow down the impetus for a rush to build these centers in Arizona?

Absolutely.

I think that we should do something with the water before we build the data center because I think a lot of people are going to be very upset.

And they're already building the data center.

We're not going to stop it.

It's being built right here in Pima County right now.

But I just think they should have done something first to alleviate the people being upset or at least address that issue.

Separate from the data centers and the technology about water use itself.

With the cutbacks that are promised for Arizona, it's got a lot of people concerned, especially people down in Yuma who rely on that water to grow the crops down there.

Farmers are being asked to consider restricting their water use.

What do you think about that?

I think that they've got to make a living and they've got to use whatever water they need to use.

I do have a friend there, Jimmy Rodriguez.

He actually ran in the special election last time.

He has a plan.

He's been out talking to the farmers in Yuma that will help the farmers in Yuma.

He's invented a design.

They're big connexes that they can grow their vegetation inside it and it uses very little water.

And it also uses less land.

And he's been working with the miners there, or the miners, the farmers there.

And then with the technology, it's a promise of new jobs, economic development for Arizona, but it's again a balance that you have to reach.

How do you reach that balance?

Well, this would actually create jobs.

You've got people that have to build the connexes.

It's easier for the farmers to deal with because it's a smaller area.

They're not going out in the sun, beneath the sun, and tilling all the fields because it's all in a smaller area and stacked up.

So I think there's pros and cons, but the water thing is the thing that it takes care of.

They won't use nearly as much water.

All right.

Let's discuss education now.

You backed the defunding of the Department of Education, and you're also a supporter of the Education Scholarship Account Program, the ESAs.

To have money from the vouchers going to private schools.

Why do you consider that the best solution to improving the quality of education for Arizona?

I believe we need to have competition in education.

I believe the charter schools give the public schools good competition.

They seem to be doing better.

The numbers are better.

The test results are coming back better from the kids that are in charter schools.

I'm not against public schools at all.

I just think that our money isn't being used.

I think it's taking care of the upper administration and not taking care of the teachers and the students themselves, and that's where I have a problem with it.

Well, taking care of teachers, that's a big issue.

Why not pay teachers more?

I think they should.

I absolutely think they should pay teachers more.

But at the same time, I hear people say, "Well, if you paid teacher more, they would do a better job."

I own a company, and I've had so many employees tell me over and over, "Have you paid me another dollar an hour?

I'd work harder."

I've come to find out through the years that if you give a guy a raise in the hopes he'll do more work, it never happens.

You want the guy to do more work and then give him a raise and reward him.

It never works the other way.

It never has, never will.

In Tucson, we have an issue on public safety.

There's been a couple of high-profile shootings in our area.

Now, of course, the 7th Congressional District includes much of Tucson, along with the rural areas and even parts of suburban Phoenix.

Public safety is something everybody thinks about, everybody worries about.

What's your thoughts on that?

For starters, I think teaching our kids respect again, because I don't know if you've been in a public school here recently, but I have had the privilege of going to the public schools and seeing how bad the students are to the teachers.

I feel bad for the teachers.

One of the reasons I believe they probably need more money, but the kids have no respect.

Our kids are growing up, they're not being taught respect like they were when you and I were kids.

You probably got swatted in school.

I know I did.

I also took gun safety in Nash Elementary, and I think they should do that again.

I think they should teach kids the respect of the gun, and they should teach kids respect for one another and for their parents and their teachers.

Let me get your feelings on that.

Gun safety, teaching versus gun control.

Which one do you decide?

Educating.

I believe educating is always the correct answer.

Why not move guns away from a place where kids can get them?

Well, they should be away from where a kid should get them.

They should be locked up.

I have guns, I have quite a few guns.

I have a gun safe that my guns are in.

I have a grandchild that's now living with me, three years old.

He's the reason I bought a gun safe.

I think everybody, any responsible gun owner should have those guns locked up.

And if they don't respect that, then there should be consequences held on the person that did not take care of their guns.

Is it too easy for Arizonans to get guns?

It wasn't really easy for me.

It took 30 years, but I'm a law.

I abide by the law.

Now, if you're a criminal, you're going to get it anyways.

So what's the gun law going to do to stop the criminal in the first place?

He's still going to go get the gun.

Associated with that is the problem of drugs crossing the border and drug use and drug abuse in southern Arizona.

You've talked a little bit about that before in some other venues.

What's your thoughts on controlling the situation with especially fentanyl coming across the border?

Well, my dad was a lifetime Democrat till I took him to the border one day and my dad talked to all the migrants coming across because he's bilingual and he spoke to them all.

They all said, Oh, we've been walking through the desert for 30 days and their brand new shoes with no dust on them.

I said, dad, you believe that?

No.

Said I'm figuring it takes about 20 minutes for the car that's picking them up and bringing them here to drop them off.

There were literally hundreds walking down in group, seven people to a group and it said the car must hold about seven people.

That was the day I said, and my dad hated Trump.

Oh my God.

And my dad, you mentioned Trump's name rage would fit it.

Fill his face.

So I said, dad, the reason they're putting a border wall up is to direct the traffic to the ports of entry.

Many of those kids that were with the groups, many kids get trafficked across that border, you know, but I said they were to direct them to a port of entry where they're supposed to come in.

They're entering out here in the middle of nowhere.

Dad, 4,505 people had died in our desert just crossing the border.

So if you have a wall there to stop them from coming there, they'll come through the ports where they're safer and we have a better access to stop the drugs.

I've got five years worth of footage of drugs pouring across the southern border on backpacks, six and seven men crews that Mr.

Chilton had recorded for the last five years.

You mentioned what your dad feels about Donald Trump.

What do you think about the president and his policies?

This is funny.

My dad used to hate Trump.

I was kind of mellow either way.

I like a lot of his policies.

I think a lot of the things he brings across, he brings them across in a really bad way.

So I don't like that part.

My dad's probably a bigger fan of Trump now than I am.

And he switched from Democrat to Republican that day.

If you were going to give President Trump some advice, what would you tell him?

I would tell him to slow down on the defunding the healthcare here because there are people getting caught up in it.

A lot of people that are being detained too long to try and get their healthcare back because they were stopped.

And they're being delayed by months, three months.

I think he should send some people in to make sure that the ones that should have it are getting it.

I think it's taken too long.

And that would be advice I'd give him.

And we know recently he doesn't like mail-in ballots.

And many people in rural Arizona, in the 7th Congressional District, rely on mail-in ballots to vote.

What do you think about that?

To me, I've never had an opinion one way or the other on it.

But I think it's absolutely crazy that I believe the only reason he's doing this is because he wanted them to release the numbers or something.

I'm pretty sure if I remember right.

He wanted them to release the names to him.

They refused to release them to him.

So he said, "Well, I'll stop the mail-in ballots."

I don't know why they didn't just release the names of them.

But, you know... Do you think voter fraud is an issue?

He does.

I never have.

I've never really thought like that.

I do know that there's an integrity that when Hillary won, the Democrats said Trump stole the election.

Or, when Hillary lost.

The Democrats said Trump stole the election.

When Biden won, the Republicans said Biden stole the election.

We need to get rid of it and make sure that no one feels that way when someone wins any election.

So I do agree maybe they should have voter ID and everyone should make sure that they give their voter ID just to appease everyone on both sides of the aisle.

It's not a big deal.

Anybody can get an ID.

A recent Gallup poll showed only 17% of Americans have trust or confidence in their lawmakers to do their jobs.

What can be done to change that opinion in a system that seems to be so consistently deadlocked between the two sides?

Well, there's got to be some give and take.

Here's the problem that I'm seeing, and I've seen it in our city council.

We have a bunch of activists that are represented in this, and activists make poor representatives.

They're locked on what they want, not what their constituents want.

And I think we need to have representatives that listen to the people.

And the perfect example is the city council.

I sat there one day, listened to everybody.

I watched the mayor say, "We tried housing first.

It failed.

Now we need to go back to them."

But we're going to try and try.

And then she opened up the tent city.

She said, "As long as everybody's okay with it, we'll go ahead and do the tent city."

Nobody was okay with it.

She still did the tent city.

The mayor down in Phoenix, right?

No, the mayor here in Tucson.

Yeah, yeah.

How do you stay in touch with the constituents?

Because a lot of people have that break.

You know, they stay in Washington for too long, then they lose touch of who they're helping.

How are you going to do that?

My staff will consist of Democra independents, and Republicans, all parties, because I want to be someone that represents everybody, not just one party.

And I put that out on a post, and I had a few Republicans attack me over that.

And I just, you know, it is what it is.

The one thing that struck me in this conversation, this whole half hour that we've been doing, is that you seem to feel comfortable going across the aisle if you have to, or at least making people upset on the other side when there's so much polarization going on.

You know, tell me where that comes from.

Because I want to bring our community together, and I can tell you there's radicals on the right, and there's radicals on the left, and they're the two groups that are dividing everybody, and nothing you say is going to change their opinion one way or the other.

And I find there's a whole lot of people that have common ground in the middle, and those are the people that I go talk to.

Anyone who winds up in Congress, they have a list of priorities, the things they want to do first.

Let me ask you what is number one on your list of priorities, if you are elected.

The number one is in our economy, okay?

And that's right up there with immigration reform.

Because on day one, I will go in and sign up to join the Dignity Act.

That'll be the first thing I do.

I'd want to get involved with that to do immigration, but the economy needs to be addressed, and I want to bring industries into southern Arizona so that people can get to work.

All right.

Thank you very much.

You're all right.

Daniel Butierez, running for Congress in the 7th Congressional District.

And that'll do it for the press room.

For all the staff and crew, I'm Tony Perkins.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next week.

(dramatic music) Support comes from Banner Health, a nonprofit healthcare system with an integrative health plan committed to giving back to Arizona.

Last year, Banner reinvested $1.1 billion into the Arizona community.

Learn more at bannerhealth.com.

This has been an original production of AZPM News.