Read in Spanish

In a heated GOP debate for Arizona’s 7th District, candidates Daniel Butierez, Jorge Rivas and Jimmy Rodriguez backed Trump’s agenda while trading sharp personal attacks over immigration, military service and past records.

All three candidates agreed on the need to strengthen border security by hiring more Border Patrol agents, supported immigration reform, and said they would vote to allow mining at Oak Flat in Arizona.

But the June 9 Clean Elections/Arizona Media Association debate quickly devolved into personal attacks, with Butierez calling out Rivas’ lack of military service during his opening remarks.

“My daughter joined the Air Force at 17 and she was sent to Afghanistan for several years fighting for our country and our freedoms,” Butierez said. “My opponent, on the other hand, was 17 and abandoned his country. We sent 5,000 young Americans to liberate the country he abandoned, and 21 died. Now he’s asking the people to elect him to an office he doesn’t understand, in which he can send our children to war, when he wouldn't fight for his own country.”

Rivas, who is from El Salvador, responded to Butierez later in the debate.

“He was accusing me of deliberately leaving my country, and maybe he doesn’t know, but I left my country as a child. Normally children do not fight in wars unless they are kidnapped and forced to do that,” Rivas said. “Members of my family, like my uncle, were old enough to fight, and not only did they fight the communists, but also they died.”

Rivas fired back against Butierez, who has admitted to spending time in prison for drug offenses, calling out his character and questioning whether he's fit for office. Rivas also said he wants the United States to model other countries by sentencing convicted drug dealers to the death penalty.

“He was in jail for over 10 years, and by his own testimony was addicted to drugs. I think if we want to drain the swamp, we need to start sending people who have good moral values, common sense and the ability to communicate and make full sentences,” Rivas said. “I think that I will be the best congressman this district has ever had.”

All three candidates said they support keeping citizens on Medicaid, despite backing the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which proposes major structural changes to Medicaid, including reduced federal funding and stricter eligibility requirements.

Critics say the bill would result in millions of Americans losing coverage, particularly in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. In CD7, 200,000 people depend on Medicaid for health coverage.

“I will always fight to protect Medicaid. (The bill) is only cutting out the fraud and abuse,” Butierez said. “Our whole country is about to go bankrupt. We need to do something, because we keep kicking the can down the road. Everybody keeps talking about doing this and (Trump) is doing it, so let’s let him do it.”

Rivas agreed that Trump is thinking about the long term, saying he supports the president’s plan to address fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system.

“I do feel that every person who is being honest should get (Medicaid) and I will fight for them to get it,” Rivas said.

Rodriguez said he also supports the proposed cuts to Medicaid in the Republicans’ tax bill, saying that they’re very specific.

“Those cuts come to people who are able-bodied and able to work, and that’s where they’re going to have to qualify,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t support cuts for people who genuinely need the coverage, but I do feel that able-bodied Americans that are on the system now need to prove that they are doing what they need to do in order to stay qualified.”

Immigration reform also took up a significant portion of the debate, with Butierez and Rivas agreeing that undocumented immigrants should be deported.

“None of the people here in Tucson came here legally, and asylum or not, it’s against the law to cross the border anywhere except for a port of entry,” Butierez said. “Here in Tucson they were crossing at the end of the wall and Border Patrol would pick them up, hundreds of people every day. We need to get them out and bring them in the right way.”

Rodriguez had a different opinion, saying he thinks some undocumented immigrants should be provided work visas.

“A lot of times when someone is deported like that, there is a mandatory period, depending on how long you’re here, to where they won’t let you back in,” Rodriguez said. “If it’s been over a year, it’s 10 years before you can come back in.”

He said that 25% of Arizona’s construction workers are undocumented, and another 48% in the farm industry are also undocumented, and that “pulling them out would devastate Arizona.”

Rivas provided an alternative plan for citizenship.

“One of the things that people don’t talk about is the reason why Democrats let in so many people is because they want new voters. They think if they let them in and give them citizenship, that they will vote Democrat,” Rivas said. “If I were to be elected, I would submit a bill to give them a green card, but not citizenship. They could do anything but not become a citizen.”

Colton Allder is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at callder1995@arizona.edu.

Tucson Spotlight is a community-based newsroom that provides paid opportunities for students and rising journalists in Southern Arizona. Please support our work with a paid subscription.