Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2025 - Deja Foxx, Arizona's 7th Congressional District

The national Democratic party has a gerontocracy problem. It is only six months into 2025 and the 119th U.S. Congress, and already three Democratic U.S. congressmen have passed away, including representatives who ran in 2024 with terminal illnesses, instead of retiring and letting younger people run. Raul Grijalva, the longtime congressman for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, was re-elected to his 12th term in Congress but died after two months from lung cancer. This has left the seat open, and the primary for this election is on July 15.

One of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination is Deja Foxx (she/her), a Gen Z Democratic political activist. Raised by a single mother, Deja experienced homelessness as a child and relied on free school lunches, food stamps, Section 8 housing, and Medicaid. In 2017 she confronted her Senator, Jeff Flake, about plans to remove federal funding for Planned Parenthood at a town hall, and ever since then she has been involved in politics, including founding the El Rio Community Health Center's Reproductive Health Access Project in her native Tucson, and working on Kamala Harris’ 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. For her activism, Deja is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Planned Parenthood’s Catalyst for Change Award, the Global Citizen Prize, the Gloria Steinem's Woman of Vision Award, the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian Award, and the United Nations Global Impact Award. Deja is running for Congress to fight for reproductive freedom, economic justice, and a government that actually works for young people and working-class families.

Where are you based?
Tucson, Arizona.

What is your position/what position are you running for?
I’m running for Congress in Arizona’s 7th District in the July 25th special election.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
I’m running to fight back against the Trump administration to protect our health care, our rights and freedoms, and our communities.

What inspired you to run?
When I was 16, I needed a fighter. So I became one. I’ve stood up to Republicans trying to take away our rights and I’ve demanded better from Democrats. Now I’m running to take that fight all the way to Congress.

Foxx at Global Citizen NOW in April. (Photo credit: John Nacion/Getty Images).

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
We need leaders who get what it’s like to struggle — and who don’t back down. I want to bring voices like mine and my community’s into the halls of power, and make government feel less like a distant machine and more like a force that actually has your back.

What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?
I’ve been an activist for a decade, organizing to get sex ed updated in Tucson schools, fighting for health care access, and calling out Trump’s agenda before most people took him seriously.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
People can’t afford their lives — from housing to health care to childcare — and politicians are too out of touch to fix it. I’m running to bring the urgency and focus this moment demands, and to make sure the next generation has a shot at a better future.

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
We start by listening. The best conversations I’ve had happen face to face, in living rooms and community centers across Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. People want someone who shows up, tells the truth, and fights for them — and that’s what I do.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
If elected, I would be the first woman of my generation, Gen Z, in Congress. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we became the first generation of women in this country to have less rights than our mothers. From sex education to birth control access and protecting abortion rights, I’ve spent the last decade protecting these fundamental freedoms. In office, I would do more than check the boxes. I would be a champion for our reproductive rights.

What is your motto in life?
When we invest in people, we never lose.

Where can we find out more about you?
FoxxForAZ.com or @dejafoxx across platforms.
Facebook Instagram Bluesky Tiktok X