WASHINGTON -- Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, who championed environmental protection during his 12 terms in Congress, died Thursday of complications from cancer treatments, his office said.
Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and was the top Democrat on the committee until earlier this year. He had been absent from Congress as he underwent cancer treatment in recent months.
Grijalva's office said in a statement, "From permanently protecting the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have always been guided by community voices."
Another Democratic House member, Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas, died last week from health issues.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that Congress and the country had "lost a giant" with Grijalva's death.
"Congressman Grijalva represented his community fiercely, keeping his constituents and the climate at the center of everything he did," Jeffries added.
Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was first elected to the House in 2002. Known as a liberal leader, he led the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 2008 and dedicated much of his career to working on environmental causes on the Natural Resources Committee. He stepped down from that position this year, after announcing that he planned to retire rather than run for reelection in 2026.
Grijalva had announced in April last year that he had been diagnosed with cancer, but would be able to continue his work. Despite missing hundreds of House votes, he sought reelection and won easily in one of the most solidly Democratic districts in Arizona.
The seat, which represents a district spanning southern Arizona from Tucson to the border with Mexico, will remain vacant until a replacement is selected in a special election later this year.
The Democratic primary in the mostly Hispanic district is likely to be a fierce battle between allies of Grijalva, a longtime Southern Arizona power broker who led an influential bloc of progressive elected officials, and a more moderate faction. Possible contenders include his daughter, Adelita Grijalva, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and Tucson Major Regina Romero, one of Grijalva's longtime allies.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, praised Grijalva as "one of the most progressive members" in the House.
"Raúl was a fighter for working families throughout his entire life. He will be sorely missed," Sanders said in a statement.
Grijalva started out as a community organizer in Tucson and served on the local school board for years before being elected to the Pima County Board of Supervisors. He resigned from that post in 2002 to seek office in what was then Arizona's newly created 7th Congressional District.
A member of the House Natural Resources Committee for more than two decades, he worked on issues that ranged from securing water supplies for drought-stricken parts of Arizona and the West to securing funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which safeguards natural areas and provides recreation opportunities to the public.
He also played a key role in writing the National Landscape Conservation System Act and the Federal Lands Restoration Act, which were passed and signed by President Barack Obama.
In recent years, he also led advocacy in Congress for the creation of a new national monument near the Grand Canyon. It was part of an effort to protect the area from uranium mining and to acknowledge repeated calls by Native American tribes that sought to protect more of their ancestral homelands.