grijalva
Rep. Grijalva Called On To Retire After Failing To Show For Key Votes

January 28, 2025

By Staff Reporter |

Constituents of the seventh congressional district are calling on their congressman, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, to retire from office due to his failing to show up for key votes this session. 

Per House Clerk records, Grijalva hasn’t cast a vote on legislation this session yet. His last vote was for Hakeem Jeffries for House Speaker at the start of this month. 

Critics of Grijalva’s continued absence in the House pointed out how Grijalva urged former President Joe Biden to drop out of last year’s presidential race.

House Clerk records also show that Grijalva last cast votes in November 2024 during the second session of the last Congress. There were nearly 40 roll call votes taken that second session, during which Grijalva was registered as “not voting.” 

Grijalva sat on the committees for Education and Workforce, and Natural Resources. The congressman stepped down from his leadership position in the latter last month. Grijalva entered Congress in 2003. 

Grijalva’s lack of presence in Congress is attributable to his lung cancer diagnosis, which he announced last April. Despite undergoing cancer treatments, Grijalva committed to running another term — his final, he promised. 

Last October, Cronkite News reported that Grijalva didn’t cast any votes since mid-February, several months before he announced his cancer diagnosis. Those missed votes amounted to over 300. 

Altogether, Grijalva missed about 480 out of the 490 roll call votes from mid-February through last week. As Arizona Daily Star columnist and constituent Tim Steller pointed out, that amounts to 97 percent of voting opportunities missed.

Grijalva told KOLD at the time that his failing to vote made no difference in Congress. 

“They’re inconsequential because the Republicans are in charge and it’s the worst performing Congress in decades, if not a hundred years,” said Grijalva. 

This session, Grijalva has missed out on 25 key votes on 19 pieces of legislation:

  • House Resolution 5: Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress, and for other purposes
  • House Resolution 29: The Laken Riley Act
  • House Resolution 23: Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act
  • House Resolution 192: Amtrak Executive Bonus Disclosure Act
  • House Resolution 152: Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act
  • House Resolution 153: Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act
  • House Resolution 28: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act
  • House Resolution 164: POWER Act
  • House Resolution 144: Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act
  • House Resolution 33: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the United States
  • House Resolution 30: Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act
  • House Resolution 186: Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act
  • House Resolution 187: MAPWaters Act
  • House Resolution 53: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 471) the Fix Our Forests Act; and providing for consideration of the bill (S. 5) the Laken Riley Act
  • House Resolution 165: Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
  • Senate Bill 5: Laken Riley Act
  • House Resolution 375: Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act
  • House Resolution 471: Fix Our Forests Act
  • House Resolution 21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

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