From campus to the capitol?

Foxx says CD7 needs fighters … Don’t take our word for it … Sacrifices are for people, not wolves.

At just 16 years old, Deja Foxx stood in a town hall and challenged a U.S. senator — a moment that kicked off a decade of political defiance and grassroots advocacy.

Even before her viral confrontation with Sen. Jeff Flake that launched her into social media stardom, Foxx had been challenging school board policies in Tucson.

She may not have been on the board, but the University High student began attending meetings and challenged an outdated sex education policy, eventually getting appointed to a committee to help update TUSD’s policies.

In college, Foxx was a high-profile advocate in Southern Arizona, encouraging voter turnout in support of Vice President Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign.

We sat down with her recently to discuss her decade of political activism and her decision to run for office in this summer’s special election in Congressional District 7.

In her teens, Foxx said she quickly learned how the federal government played outsized roles in the lives of her family, friends and neighbors.

“I was raised by a single mom in section 8 housing on SNAP benefits and Medicaid. I was a free lunch kid right here in our public schools. And so that is what got me started in politics, was that my access to the things I needed to just get by was by and large determined by our elected officials,” Foxx said.

The decision to run wasn’t easy for the 25-year-old, who noted that while Congressman Raúl Grijalva was one of the first to encourage her political ambitions, he also represented the district for nearly her entire life.

“(People) want to see healthy primaries. And in a district that hasn't seen a competitive congressional primary in my lifetime, I believe that people here deserve good options — that is the long-term strategy for our party and our democracy. And I feel compelled to be in this race by what is on the line. For families like mine, who Donald Trump is putting in his crosshairs,” Foxx said.

The social media strategist said the district needs a fighter given the stakes, noting House Republicans just last week voted in the middle of the night to cut millions of people from Medicaid.

“I want to make this very clear. The kids that they are targeting, the families that they are targeting, are folks just like me. … So to say that I'm angry is an understatement. This is still personal for my family, for my neighbors, for my friends who are one car breakdown away from not making rent this month,” Foxx said.

While there is no public polling in the race, Foxx pushes back on the narrative that the Democratic primary is already decided. When she knocks on doors in CD7, she says voters aren’t looking for a candidate who checks a box — they want a fighter. Foxx says voter frustration runs deep — not just with Republicans, but within the Democratic Party itself.

“We hear at the doors that people don't feel fought for. Not only are they frustrated with the Trump administration, but they are frustrated with our party. The Democrats have a lower-than-ever approval rating,” Foxx said.

With a history of fighting for reproductive rights, Foxx points to the fact that for tens of millions of young women in the U.S., they now have fewer rights than their mothers had when they were younger.

Acknowledging Democrats are not in power at the moment, Foxx said it’s more important now than ever to fight for Democratic ideals.

And in practical terms, maybe risking a night in jail is worth it to stand up to the Trump administration.

“I've been arrested protesting on Capitol Hill in an act of civil disobedience after the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, alongside movement leaders and just one or two congresspeople. We should have more Congress people out there doing the work of advocates and activists, right? Using their positions of power to risk a little something because our families have a lot on the line,” Foxx said.

Foxx sees the upcoming special election as the first reaction to the Trump administration, his policies, and the near silence from most of the Arizona Congressional delegation.

She said it will be up to the voters of Congressional District 7 to decide who should go to Washington.

“I might be new to them, but that they have a big responsibility in Southern Arizona right now in the special election — that 2025 is the first referendum on our 2024 election. Did we learn our lessons or are we going to keep doing things the same way? And what we decide here in Southern Arizona in 2025, our special election will have implications for the 2026 midterms,” she said.

Ballots will start arriving in mailboxes on June 18 for the July 15 primary election.

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If you wanna learn more about Deja Foxx, of course you’re gonna need to check her socials.

Her TikTok is kind of campaign headquarters — you can tag along door-knocking with her and her mom or watch her respond to trolls, depending on the day.

For those of you who prefer the printed word, check out her Substack, where she delivers reports most days from her life on the campaign trail.

She’s also posting on Facebook, mostly reels and inspirational quotes.

And Twitter has all the daily updates fit to tweet.

And her Insta will take you all the way back on her journey from teen activist to serious candidate.

Street smarts: Two local elected officials bucked the trend when it comes to making policy: They came up with the ideas themselves, instead of waiting for staff to come up with something, Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock writes. Both ideas, from Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz and Tucson Councilman Paul Cunningham, are well-meaning ideas focused on housing problems, but they’re still ruffling feathers.

Odd bedfellows: Tucson Mayor Regina Romero’s trip to Qatar last week came as a surprise, and continues to raise questions, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. Qatar is known for bribery, which raised red flags when President Donald Trump accepted a jet from them. Romero has made no such deals with Qatari officials, of course, but Steller “can’t shake the feeling that whether it’s a $400 million jet or a junket to Doha, you don’t get anything from Qatar for free.”

Making their case: A lot of Democratic candidates, alongside a few Republicans, are trying to win seats on the Tucson City Council in three wards. They got their first chance to speak together at a public forum last week, the Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel reports. They laid out their positions on climate change, how the city runs elections and police oversight, among many other issues.

Border bucks: The federal budget bill might reimburse Arizona for the nearly $200 million the state spent on installing thousands of containers along the Arizona-Mexico border three years ago, Cronkite News’ Derry Lenehan reports. House Republicans put $12 billion in the bill to cover states’ costs on border security during the Biden administration. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, put the state’s overall border security costs at more than $500 million. Meanwhile, immigrants are seeing their cases re-opened, sometimes a decade or more after they were closed, while federal agents lurk around immigration courts, the Star’s Emily Bregel reports. And lawyers say they’re seeing posters popping up at immigration courtrooms and detention centers with a “warning to self-deport,” KJZZ’s Alisa Reznick reports.

Righting isn’t that important, anyway: After University of Arizona officials ended the contracts for 10 writing program faculty members earlier this month, faculty leaders are trying to get their jobs back, the Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. The faculty leaders are pointing to what they call exploitative working conditions, and noting the combined salaries of the 10 writing teachers was roughly the same as the salary of one UA vice president.

The salary of one UA VP also could pay for a bunch of new reporters. Click that button to get a Memorial week discount on supporting local news!

The conversation isn’t over: When Arizona voters enshrined abortion rights in the state Constitution last year, it wasn’t the end of the debate, Axios’ Jeremy Duda reports. Laws that restrict abortion rights need to be struck down individually, and a new lawsuit is taking aim at three of them.

ICYMI: We’re offering a Memorial Day discount on a paid subscription all week.

And each day this week, we’re highlight one news organization that Southern Arizona has lost (or basically lost) in the last few decades. Today, we’d like to pour one out for one of our favorite now-shuttered local political blogs — Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.

Local politico Ted Prezelski ran the blog — which covered all manner of local and state political insights and shenanigans from a Democratic perspective — from about 2006 to 2012 (and his brother, former lawmaker Tom Prezelski, kept it going for about a year after that).

But like so many of the great blogs of its era, RRR closed because there was no real money in it.

So do your part to keep local news alive — upgrade to a paid subscription to support the Tucson Agenda this week and get a 25% discount.

Ground Party Papers reports that Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby isn’t a fan of “sustainability” when it comes to the protection of endangered Mexican Grey Wolves in the region.

The retired Border Patrol agent proclaimed earlier this month during a special meeting that he doesn’t believe wildlife — specifically wolves — should hold any “supernatural” reverence, despite its cultural and religious significance in many cultures.

He closed his remarks by saying he will never make “sacrifices to the wolf idol.”

This is a pretty good place to mention that Crosby thanked people for “sacrificed Christmas presents” in order to donate his legal defense fund. He reported he got about $10,000.

The GiveSendGo donations are closed, so we will never know if any wolves gave to his campaign.