Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced he would not run for a U.S. House of Representatives seat left empty after the death of southern Arizona political icon Rep. Raúl Grijalva.

After telling journalists and his staff that he was “seriously considering” a candidacy, Fontes, a Democrat, said on March 26 he instead would focus on administering elections.

“With this week’s executive order from the Trump administration, I firmly believe the president is laying the groundwork to cancel the election in 2026,” Fontes said.

“I have considered the pros and cons of running for Congress. It is clear to me that our party must fight harder and stand up to the rising tide of fascism sweeping this nation,” he said in a statement.

Fontes cited Trump’s most recent executive order that would require proof of citizenship in a federal election, which was signed by the president March 25.

Fontes told Democratic attorney Marc Elias he believed a legal battle was on the horizon as President Trump attempted to change the process for the mid-term election of 2026.

“After careful thought and reflection, I have decided that for family, for country, and for democracy, I will continue to defend America as Arizona’s Secretary of State,” Fontes said.

Who are likely candidates for Grijalva’s seat?

The decision set up what election observers expected to be a two-way race between former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez Jr., who announced his run on March 24, and Adelita Grijalva, a daughter of the late congressman, who has not made a formal announcement to run.

Adelita Grijalva also serves on the Pima County Board of Supervisors in the same seat her father held decades ago.

Before Grijalva’s death, three other Democratic candidates — Andrew Becerra, David Bies and Abdul hadi Ghulam Habib — had filed paperwork indicating their interest in running for the 7th Congressional District seat in 2026.

As of March 26, 22 people had filed a statement of interest to run for the seat in the special election, including 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats, one Libertarian and one Green Party member.

The primary election will take place on July 15, and the general election will be held in September.

Arizona Republic reporters Laura Gersony and Mary Jo Pitzl contributed to this article.

Reach reporter Rey Covarrubias Jr. at rcovarrubias@gannett.com. Follow him on X, Threads and Bluesky @ReyCJrAZ.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will host the Chicago Cubs for their opening game of the season on Thursday March 27. It’s the first of a four game series between the two National League playoff hopefuls.

The Cubs opened their season with a two game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo Japan, dropping both contests by scores of 4-1 and 6-3.

On December 7 the Cubs traded Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees for right-hander Cody Poteet. Six days later they landed one of the best players in baseball, when healthy, Kyle Tucker. The Astros received Isaac Paredes in the deal.

The Cubs made another trade with the Astros in late January, snagging Ryan Pressly to be their closer in exchange for minor leaguer Juan Bello.

Chicago also signed left-hander Mathew Boyd and former Diamondback Carson Kelly to free agent contracts. Just as spring training was starting they signed DH/First Baseman Justin Turner.

The Diamondbacks biggest move of the offseason was to sign star right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six year, $210 million dollar contract, but he will not pitch in this series. They also traded for first baseman Josh Naylor, replacing Christian Walker who left via free agency.

Thursday, March 27, 7:10 P.M. MST

Left-hander Justin Steele will start for the Cubs. Last year he made 24 starts, and posted a 3.07 ERA along with a 3.23 FIP in 134 innings. His record was 5-5 and he produced 1.9 WAR.

Steele pitched the second game in Tokyo on March 19 and allowed five runs on five hits, including two homers in four innings of work, taking the loss

Zac Gallen will take the mound for the Diamondbacks, having been tabbed by manager Torey Lovullo for the opening day start. Gallen went 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 2024. He made 28 starts and threw 148 innings as he fought hamstring issues several times last year.

Friday, March 28, 6:40 P.M. MST

Right-hander Jameson Taillon is now entering his third year with the Cubs. He was very good last year, going 12-8 with a 3.27 ERA, albeit with a somewhat higher FIP of 3.92. He made 28 starts and pitched 165 innings, frequently going deeper in games.

Merrill Kelly is fully recovered fromt the shoulder issues that plagued him last year when he was limited to just 13 starts and 74 innings. He went 5-1 with a 4.03 ERA. Kelly struck out 16 batters in 15 spring innings while only walking five, but allowed some hard contact too, including three homers in succession to the Giants in his last spring tuneup.

Saturday, March 29, 5:10 P.M. MST

Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga pitched well on home soil in the Tokyo opener, tossing four hitless, scoreless innings against the Dodgers. He did walk four batters, and struck out two. As a 30 year-old rookie, the effervescent lefty was fabulous in 2024, going 15-3 with a 2.93 ERA in 29 starts, 173 innings.

Righty Brandon Pfaadt led the D-backs in innings pitched last year with 181.2 innings. While his ERA was an elevated 4.71, he pitched better than that, as evidenced by 3.61 FIP and 4.4 strikeout to walk ration. A solid spring led to him winning a rotation spot over Ryne Nelson.

Sunday, March 30, 1:10 P.M. MST

The Cubs have yet to name a starter for Sunday afternoon’s matchup. Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will start for the D-backs. He too lost significant time last year due to a shoulder injury, and was not great when he came back. Making 10 starts, he posted a 5.05 ERA with a 4.57 FIP in 50 innings.

Rodriguez looked very sharp in spring, striking out 12 and walking just two in 10 Cactus League innings. He seems poised to reprieve his bend but don’t break style. Signed to a four year, $80 million dollar contract prior to the 2024 season, Rodriguez was coming off a career best 3.30 ERA in 153 innings in 2023 while going 13-9 with 3.2 WAR.

In addition to Pressly closing, Porter Hodge had a sensational rookie debut in 2024, posting a 1.88 ERA in 43 innings. Ryan Brasier, formerly of the Dodgers, is a Cub now as well.

The D-backs will play the matchups between Justin Martinez and lefty A.J. Puk for ninth inning save chances. Kevin Ginkel will open the season on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Ryan Thompson and lefty Joe Mantiply will freqent the late inings as well. As of this writing it looks like Shelby Miller and Bryce Jarvis have both made the bulllpen, although that is unoffical. Ryne Nelson will be the long man. New addition Jalen Beeks has signed to be the third lefty in the pen.

In addition to Tucker the potentially potent Cubs offense is led by Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, and Dansby Swanson. First baseman Michael Busch smacked 21 homers in his first full major league season in 2024. Last year the Cubs finished seventh in the NL with 4.54 runs per game.

The D-backs led all of MLB with 5.47 runs per game last year. Despite losing Walker and Joc Pederson, they are still projected to have one of the top offenses in the league. Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte will take turns batting leadoff and second, creating a dynamic duo atop the order.

Series split. The Diamondbacks offense is likely to be better against right-hand starters than left, and the Cubs are starting two lefties this series in Steele and Imanaga. The D-backs bullpen may be in flux suddenly with the Ginkel injury. While the D-backs appear to be the superior team on paper and in all projection system, taking three of four is difficult.

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation are calling on the Department of Defense to bring back website articles describing two Native American heroes from Arizona.

Reps. Greg Stanton and Yassamin Nasari, both Democrats, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to reinstate stories surrounding Pima/Akimel O’odham Marine Pfc. Ira Hayes and Hopi Army Specialist Lori Piestewa. The pair say references to Native American veterans, like the Navajo Code Talkers, have been restored but information on the two military members is still missing.

“We must never forget the sacrifices made by Native American veterans and service members throughout our nation’s history,” said Stanton and Nasari in the letter. They say the stories of Hayes and Piesetwa were removed because of the Trump administration’s ban of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “Efforts by the DOD to recognize any veteran’s selfless service to our nation have nothing to do with any type of DEI Initiative,” said Stanton and Nasari.

Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, also Democrats, sent a similar letter on Monday to Hegseth about the webpages. “To erase Pfc. Hayes’s and Specialist Piestewa’s contributions to our history is to erase American history,” they said. “DoD appears to be taking a slash and burn approach, removing web pages and only restoring them when the public holds the Department accountable. This approach is wasteful and creates unnecessary distractions from the Department’s important missions.”

Hayes was one of six Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 during WWII. The event was immortalized in one of the most recognized photos in history that won a Pulitzer Prize. A simple search of his name returns zero results on the Defense Department website. However, he’s the focus of this article on the Iowa Jima victory.

Piestewa was the first female Native American soldier to be killed in action on foreign soil when her convoy was ambushed on March 23, 2003. Former Gov. Janet Napolitano renamed the mountain formerly known as Squaw Peak, near 24th Street and Glendale, as Piestewa Peak a month after she died.

Her name is only mentioned in one article about Native American women serving in the military. There was a Piestewa painting photo on the Defense Department website but the link now gives a 404 error. A photo is still up of Piestewa’s mother.

The controversy comes during the same month at least 10 articles mentioning the Navajo Code Talkers were pulled from U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites. They were reportedly replaced with several broken URLs labeled “DEI.” The Code Talkers were an indigenous group that helped the United States during World War II.

Some of the webpages were restored hours later. Defense Department officials say the Navajo Code Talker material was mistakenly erased.

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