Daniel Butierez comes up short in bid for CD7 seat | Decision 2025

TUCSON, Ariz. – (KVOA) It was an early night Tuesday in Arizona’s Congressional District 7 Special Election. Democrat Adelita Grijalva easily defeated Republican Daniel Butierez with nearly 70% of the vote. 

Just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, Grijalva lead Butierez by more than 34,300 votes. 

Butierez and his family gathered with supporters at Brother Johns in Midtown. 

Butierez fell way short of winning in the heavily Democratic district. But, the GOP nominee told News 4 Tucson he’s proud of the race he ran. 

“We had an amazing campaign,” Butierez said. “They haven’t seen anything like what we did this turn.”

Butierez had yet to call Grijalva to concede. The campaign told News 4 Tucson, the Republican nominee plans to make that call Wednesday. 

Butierez firmly believes he pressed the conversation on homeless and crime. He’s grateful to his supporters, including the Democrats in the district who backed him. He wanted to keep this campaign cordial and focused on the issues.

“So, I don’t if I can do anything different except to continue to reach out into the community and start connecting,” Butierez said. “That’s the only advice I can give to anyone. People got to start talking to each other, reaching out to each other and bringing the community together.”