Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President

Raúl M. Grijalva is responsive to Arizona Congressional District 7 and the Star endorses his return to the House of Representatives.

The Democrat faces Republican Joseph Sweeney, who has run unsuccessfully for Congress in every election since 1984, winning his party's nomination once before, in 2004. Grijalva is also opposed by Raymond Petrulsky, a Libertarian.

A native Tucsonan, Grijalva has served in Congress since 2003. He served 13 years on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and 12 years on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.

Grijalva has been a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration's move to allow uranium mining on public lands next to Grand Canyon National Park.

Grijalva is an important voice in Congress on immigration issues. Congressional District 7 stretches to the U.S.-Mexican border and Grijalva brings knowledge to the table that most other representatives don't have. He has supported the DREAM Act, which would give children of illegal immigrants — many of whom have lived in the U.S. most of their lives — a path to citizenship if they attend college.

He has also been a strong proponent of a comprehensive approach to fixing our immigration policies. Grijalva knows that a strategy that only aims to "secure the border" cannot work.

Grijalva advocates a process to legalize the estimated 10 million people living in the United States without the proper documents and he supports a guest worker program that will ensure American employers have the labor force they need to do demanding and necessary jobs, like picking crops in the fields.

We endorse Grijalva for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.