Progressive influencer Deja Foxx just got crushed in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, losing by more than 40 points in a blowout that stunned far-left activists.
The Associated Press called the race for 54-year-old Adelita Grijalva with only 65% of the vote counted.
Grijalva, a Pima County Supervisor and daughter of the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, won with 62% of the vote, Trending Politics reported. Foxx, a 25-year-old digital celebrity with nearly 400,000 TikTok followers, came in at just 21%.
The result was a reality check for progressives hoping to replace a political dynasty with a social media star. Foxx had high-profile endorsements from David Hogg and the PAC “Leaders We Deserve.”
She only became eligible for Congress in April. Her campaign leaned heavily on her “lived experience,” highlighting a childhood in Section 8 housing, dependence on food stamps, and early activism for abortion access.
But it did not work. Grijalva was the clear favorite from the start, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego. Her name, funding, and party support helped her cruise to victory. Foxx tried to frame the loss as a moral win.
“I couldn’t be prouder of what we built together,” she said. She talked about starting “alone in her bedroom” and building a movement that “shattered expectations.”
Still, the numbers tell the story.
“She lost by 40,” one user on X posted, quoting a Politico headline that had once suggested Foxx might have a “real shot.”
Foxx raised over $670,000 from mostly small-dollar donors and tried to reinvent field campaigning through social media. It didn’t work
Even though both candidates shared nearly identical platforms—supporting Medicare for All, tribal sovereignty, environmental justice, and opposing Donald Trump—voters went with the familiar name.
Grijalva had decades of local roots, and it showed. In her victory speech, she thanked her father and the voters who kept the legacy going.
“This is a victory not for me, but for our community and the progressive movement my dad started in Southern Arizona more than 50 years ago,” she said.
“We delivered a message rooted not just in fighting back against a dangerous and tyrannical administration—but in fighting for something: for our democracy, for the dignity of working people, and for the values that truly define Southern Arizona.”
In New York there is an effort by progressives to primary the Democrat leader of the House.
Zohran Mamdani’s democratic socialist allies are reportedly considering primary challenges next year against several congressional Democrats in New York City, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
However, a senior political advisor to Jeffries has vowed that anyone attempting to unseat the top Democrat in the House during next year’s primaries will face a “forceful and unrelenting” response, Fox News reported.
Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, sent political shockwaves nationwide with his decisive victory two weeks ago over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
His win marks a significant step toward potentially becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor, but would also signal the Democratic Party’s increasing shift to the extreme far-left.
In the wake of Mamdani’s primary victory in June, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) highlighted that “this movement is bigger than one person, election, city, or organization.”
“We encourage all people inspired by the Zohran campaign to join their local DSA or YDSA chapter and get involved so we can continue to fight alongside Zohran and DSA elected officials across the country to create the future we all deserve,” the party added.
Now, following Mamdani’s victory, DSA leaders are reportedly considering mounting primary challenges not only against Jeffries but also other House Democrats representing New York City districts, including Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman, and Yvette Clarke, Fox added.
A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to move forward with his effort to overturn his criminal conviction in the hush money case in New York City.
Trump is seeking to transfer the case from New York state court to federal court, arguing that a federal judge should dismiss the jury’s 34-count guilty verdict based on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity, The Hill reported.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said it “cannot be confident” that the lower court properly weighed Trump’s arguments in his effort to transfer the case to federal court.
“The court bypassed what we consider to be important issues bearing on the ultimate issue of good cause,” the panel noted in its ruling.
“We leave it to the able and experienced District Judge to decide whether to solicit further briefing from the parties or hold a hearing to help it resolve these issues,” the panel added.
The panel included U.S. Circuit Judges Raymond Lohier and Susan Carney, both appointed by former President Obama, as well as U.S. Circuit Judge Myrna Pérez, who was appointed by former President Biden.
Trump was convicted last year on charges of falsifying business records related to payments intended to conceal an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
“President Trump continues to win in his fight against Radical Democrat Lawfare,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that the Witch Hunt perpetrated by the Manhattan DA be immediately overturned and dismissed.”
“President Trump will keep defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn as he focuses on his singular mission to Make America Great Again,” the spokesperson added.
It’s been a rough few weeks for James as she battles her own personal court case.
The judge presiding over New York Attorney General Letitia James’ mortgage fraud case on Friday rejected a motion seeking to compel federal prosecutors to maintain a log of all their communications with the media.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell had filed the request last week, following James’ arraignment on charges of bank fraud and making false statements. The motion cited a report alleging that U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan exchanged a series of encrypted Signal messages with a reporter regarding the case, the New York Post reported.
Walker further wrote that while Halligan’s Signal chat with Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month was “unusual,” he nevertheless declined to offer an opinion “on whether they were improper in any sense, either legal or ethical.”
He went on to order federal prosecutors to follow all rules of the court but did not suggest that they had violated any so far.
He also ordered a “litigation hold preventing the deletion or destruction of any records or communications having to do with the investigation or prosecution of this case.”
Halligan’s Signal messages to the reporter were configured to automatically disappear after eight hours, The Post reported.
The judge did not address whether Halligan’s communications — which reportedly disputed a New York Times story revealing that James’ grandniece told a grand jury she had never paid rent on the Norfolk, Va., property at the center of the case — constituted material subject to discovery requirements.
In response to James’ motion, federal prosecutors requested that Judge Walker impose a gag order on the New York attorney general — a request he declined.
James pleaded not guilty last week to one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.
According to the indictment, the longtime Trump adversary purchased a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Peronne Avenue in Norfolk on August 17, 2020, using a $109,600 loan that included a “second home rider” identifying her as the sole occupant. That designation allegedly allowed James to secure more favorable mortgage terms, saving her nearly $19,000.
However, prosecutors say the home “was not occupied or used” by James, but “was instead used as a rental investment property” to house her grandniece, Nakia Thompson.
If convicted on both counts, James faces up to 60 years in prison and a $2 million fine.