Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) mentioned the upcoming 2024 election could be his final, marking an approaching finish date for his greater than two-decade run in Congress.
“I think 22 years is pretty good. It’s a retirement age,” Grijalva instructed KOLD-TV 12 in an interview that aired Monday.
Grijalva, 76, introduced in April that he had been identified with most cancers, although he didn’t disclose the kind. Medical doctors initially identified him with pneumonia after he sought therapy for a persistent cough however additional testing revealed it was most cancers.
The Arizona Democrat mentioned in July that he had completed most cancers therapy and was awaiting clearance from his docs to journey again to Washington, D.C., to take part in Congress.
He mentioned within the latest interview that he’s “not far” from being again to the share that may make him efficient and is present process bodily remedy on one leg.
Grijalva mentioned the therapy that saved him residence in Tucson, Ariz., and lacking votes within the Home got here on the proper time as a result of Republicans in management have the “worst performing Congress in decades, if not 100 years.”
“And so, I didn’t miss anything, and the American people didn’t miss anything,” he mentioned.
Earlier this summer season, Grijalva grew to become the second sitting Democratic lawmaker to name on President Biden to step apart and permit a brand new era to run. He mentioned in July he would assist Biden if he remained within the race however was encouraging of the president passing the torch.
In the course of the latest interview, Grijalva admitted he was criticized by fellow Democrats and his household for calling on Biden to drop out of the race.
“At first, the reaction was bad. Bad in the sense that, ‘what are you doing? You’re breaking up the party,’” he mentioned. “And then, when it started to turn around … then [it] became so clairvoyant that I knew what was going to happen.”
As for his personal seat, Grijalva has plans to see via his upcoming election and the subsequent time period however needs to move the torch, too.
“Not that I’m abandoning what I do now, but that it’s time for someone else, and it’s time for somebody younger,” he mentioned.
Grijalva was elected to the Home in 2003 and has been thought-about probably the most liberal members of the decrease chamber.
He previously served as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is the chair of the Home Committee on Pure Assets.
The Hill has reached out to Grijalva’s workplace for remark.
