The Foxx news spin

Teen Vogue reporters don’t vote … Kyrsten’s campaign cash … And we made the big time.

At 25 years old, Deja Foxx’s lack of experience in traditional politics was the driving narrative that brought supporters and foes alike to follow the Gen Zer’s campaign over the last 100 days.

Foxx was a fresh face in a race that amounted to a match-up between two of the most worn names in Tucson politics. And as Democrats struggle nationally to decide why their party got trounced by President Donald Trump, Foxx provided a glimmer of hope that the answer wasn’t, in fact, more of the same.

Her campaign, which she documented daily on social media, especially her preferred channel, TikTok, inspired a whole universe of Washington-centric think pieces comparing her to Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and, more recently, New York mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.

As recently as yesterday, Politico was still declaring her the “influencer (who) could actually win a seat in Congress.”

In the end, she didn’t even come close.

Foxx’s run for the Congressional District 7 seat left vacant by Arizona’s longest-serving member of Congress, Raúl Grijalva, came to a quick close Tuesday night.

Early ballot results showed the congressman’s daughter, Adelita Grijalva, won by an enormous margin. The Associated Press called the race within minutes of the first round of ballots being counted. The other candidates didn’t stand a chance.

The poor showing was a devastating blow to the few dozen of Foxx campaign volunteers who eagerly awaited Foxx’s arrival at her election party in Tucson on Tuesday night.

Instead, the social media-savvy politician made her first appearance via Zoom. It was a brief moment of prioritizing her online following over her boots on the ground volunteers that spoke volumes about the campaign’s priorities.

Only later did she make a brief appearance in front of the fewer than 100 mostly young supporters who showed up.

“I know that everybody in this room shares the core belief that we picked possibility over predictability,” she said. “The people that we inspired are better off because we were in this race. That doesn’t go away after one election.”

Win — or in this case — lose, Foxx’s campaign used her age as a call to Democrats to bring younger voices to the party’s future.

That message was popular with national reporters and columnists who followed the campaign, and even some celebrities who latched onto Foxx’s moment of fame.

But it never landed with Southern Arizona voters.

Instead, Tuesday night’s results offered a testament to the strength of the Grijalva brand in Tucson — and the steady lifetime of public service that the Grijalva family represents.

Grijalva didn’t just win. She dominated to a degree that surprised even her supporters.

At the Grijalva victory party at the El Casino Ballroom in South Tucson,¹ the dance floor was popping — packed with more young Tucson voters than the entire Foxx election party.

The future congresswoman made the rounds with open arms, thanking her supporters and promising she’ll strive to carry on the legacy of her father.

“This campaign was not about one individual, it was not about social media likes,” Grijalva told the crowd.

Still, it’s likely not the last time Foxx will catch the eye of national outlets. She’s proven herself as a valuable asset to Democrats — with a social media following Love Island contestants can only dream of — even if CD7 residents aren’t ready for a “political influencer” to take office.

Where Foxx is headed next might be unknown, but she’s clearly headed places… just not Congress.

Flying high on donor dimes: Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced she wasn’t running for reelection over a year ago, but she still spent $391,000 between March 31 and June 30 on expenses that stay true to her brand of legally questionable and eccentric campaign spending, NOTUS reports. Sinema’s Senate campaign committee spent $71,000 on plane tickets, almost $5,000 on event tickets and $1,300 at a North Carolina gun shop.

We don’t have a bunch of leftover campaign cash to fund this eccentric brand of news-gathering. Maybe fund local news instead of politicians?

Opening cases, closing files: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined her 21st lawsuit against the federal government this year, this time seeking to release $6.8 billion in public education funds the Trump administration is withholding from states, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Gomez reports. The U.S. Department of Education is “reviewing” the grants because they’re used for woke things like after-school programs and services for English-language learners, but schools are already preparing to lay off teachers and shutter safety offices to cover the cuts. Meanwhile, Mayes² promised to enforce open meeting laws as AG, but her office shut down 93 complaints to focus on the most important violations, per the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger.

Budget for your BLT: The U.S. Department of Commerce imposed a 17% tariff on tomatoes sold in the U.S., ending the 1996 “Tomato Suspension Agreement” against tariffs on tomatoes over concerns Mexican farmers are using “unfair trade practices,” Capitol Media Services’ Howie Fischer reports. Gov. Katie Hobbs said that could kill 50,000 jobs in Arizona and Texas, and Nogales Mayor Jorge Maldonado warned of “severe consequences” for trade.

Hidden heat deaths: Dozens of people who died from heat-related causes weren’t reported in the annual count, ABC15’s Nicole Grigg reports. Maricopa County reported heat-related deaths decreased for the first time in a decade last year, and officials used that data to show they’re addressing the problem. But ABC15 found heat wasn’t listed as a factor in the deaths of a man who had burns on 16% of his body from a hot sidewalk and another who was lying on a park bench wrapped in a blanket.

Sky Harbor hell: Speaking of heat, Phoenix Sky Harbor workers told the Phoenix City Council that their employers aren’t following the heat safety regulations passed last year, the Daily Independent’s Mark Carlisle writes. Drivers for Sky Chefs, which delivers food to planes, said their trucks don’t have air conditioning and they’re not allowed to have bottled water in them. Council members approved a change to the heat ordinance that requires Sky Harbor companies to make heat safety plans.

Out of control: A bipartisan group of Arizona congressfolk wants an investigation into the Dragon Bravo Fire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge, per the Republic’s Stephanie Murray. The wildfire started from a lightning strike on the Fourth of July, but Arizona members of Congress including Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, and Republican Reps. Paul Gosar and Eli Crane, want to know why the fire was first treated as a controlled burn and not actively extinguished. The Associated Press has a rundown of the history of the iconic lodge burned in the fire.

Good trouble returns: Organizers are preparing another mass protest against the Trump administration, and this time, it’s called the “Good Trouble Lives On” protest in homage to civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, per the Phoenix New Times’ TJ L'Heureux. There are 24 events in Arizona (the largest is at the state Capitol) scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, July 17.

Well, readers, we made it.

Into the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

No, you haven’t missed some prolonged court case we’ve been keeping from you this whole time. (Phew, lawsuits are expensive!)

In an opinion that says the No Labels party can’t restrict which candidates run under their label, Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. cited a story we wrote last year about No Labels voters receiving blank primary election ballots.

It’s a big blow for the nascent political party, but pretty cool for us. (Although Nicole was a little bit worried this meant she was in trouble with the courts.)

1. El Casino Ballroom is a signature spot for Grijalva family events — they held the late congressman’s celebration of life ceremony there.

2. Mayes is a former journalist and open meetings laws are an issue near and dear to the heart of every local reporter.