By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

Congressman Raul Grijalva is stepping down as the ranking Democrat on the Housing Natural Resources Committee, sidestepping a fight for the post with a California lawmaker.

In a prepared statement Monday, Grijalva said “it is the right moment to pass the torch” as Congress begins a new session.

Grijalva, whose district runs from the west side of Tucson through Nogales and Douglas and into parts of Yuma as well as Tolleson and Avondale in the West Valley, made no mention of the bid announced last month by Rep. Jared Huffman to challenge him for the post. The California Democrat, in angling for the post, said the return of Donald Trump to the White House will have implications for the environment, energy production and federal land management.

“Effective committee work led by our ranking members will be critical to limiting the damage from Trump’s Project 2025 agenda,” Huffman said in his own statement. He said it will be necessary to advance the Democrats’ agenda “and drawing contrasts that enable Democrats to reclaim the House majority in 2026 or sooner.”

Instead, Grijalva, first elected to Congress in 2002, cited issues related to his diagnosis of lung cancer which he first disclosed in April. Still, he acknowledged, at least indirectly, the political change in Washington.

“I will continue to focus on improving my health, strengthening my mobility, and serving my district in what is likely to be a time of unprecedented challenge for our community,” he said.

The 76-year-old Grijalva, who easily won reelection in November, said it will be his last term.

Grijalva first became the committee’s ranking Democrat in 2015. Four years later, when the Democrats took control of the House, he became chairman, a position he held until the Republicans took back over after the 2022 election.

It was during that period of Democratic control he helped shepherd through two key pieces of the Biden agenda: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. They have been hailed at the largest investments in climate and clean energy in U.S. history.

But he also is known for picking at least one fight with Trump, at least indirectly.

In 2022, Grijalva, as chairman of the panel, asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, an appointee of Trump during his first term, had used his position to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change its position and agree to give permits to El Dorado Holdings to build the proposed Villages at Vigneto at a 12,000-acre site on the edge of Benson.

Grijalva said at the time this appeared to be a case of “pay-to-play,” saying the committee’s own investigation had shown that developer Mike Ingram and other had given nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Trump Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee.

The congressman credited the reporting of Tony Davis of the Arizona Daily Star who interviewed a new-retired federal officials that he bowed to political pressure from a superior when he reversed his position about the need for a detailed biological analysis of the effect of putting 28,000 homes on the site would have on endangered species. Steve Spangle, who was a top official at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Phoenix, told Davis, “I got rolled.”

The Department of Justice never disclosed what happened to that criminal investigation. But the Sierra Vista Herald/Review reported earlier this year that the project, opposed by various environmental groups, remains unbuilt.

Grijalva, in his statement, acknowledged he had not planned to give up his position. He thanked colleagues, tribal nations and environmental groups in his brief battle against the 60-year-old Huffman.

For his part, Huffman praised Grijalva as a “friend and ally” on the committee.

“Working alongside him, I’ve seen his grit, determination, and passion for protecting our nation’s treasured natural resources, and his iron-clad commitment to lifting up frontline and indigenous communities,” the California lawmaker said.

“Future generations will benefit from all that he has fought for and accomplished during his remarkable career,” the statement said. “Rep. Grijalva leaves big shoes to fill, and I will now dedicate myself to building on his legacy of principled and productive leadership as Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee.”

Most recently, Grijalva has been asking the U.S. Air Force to take another look at its plans for new low-level training flights — some supersonic — above several large swaths of Arizona.

Grijalva, in an October letter to the Air Force, said there is a “lack of transparency” in his it prepared its draft environmental impact statement.