Pinal County Greens Vote to Endorse Democratic U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva in Arizona's Seventh Congressional District and Actively Oppose Her Republican Opponent

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., July 10 2026 -  The Pinal County Greens executive board today voted to endorse Democratic U.S. Representative Adelita Grijalva for reelection in Arizona's Seventh Congressional District, which takes in a small portion of Pinal County. 

"We proudly endorse Adelita Grijalva," said Pinal Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "We are proud to endorse Adelita because she is a proven progressive leader who will continue to fight for working families, reproductive freedom, climate action, voting rights, and an economy that puts people ahead of special interests."

"Compared to Adelita," Grayson continued, "her opponent is no-good, typical Trump-supporting Republican. We hope all Pinal County Greens will be not only voting for Adelitaa but campaigning for her and contributing to her bid for reelection."

Pinal County Greens Vote to Endorse Democratic Candidate JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District and Actively Oppose Worthless Piece-of-Shit Candidates John Ciscomani, Gary Swing and Jereme Peters

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., July 9, 2026 - The Pinal County Greens executive board today voted to endorse Democratic Party candidate JoAnna Mendoza for Congress in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, which takes in a small portion of Pinal County. 

"We proudly endorse JoAnna Mendoza," said Pinal Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "She understands the economic challenges facing working families, will be an advocate for service members and her fellow veterans, and will address issues such as defending democracy, reproductive freedoms, and equal rights."

"Compared to JoAnna," Grayson continued, "her three opponents are just worthless pieces of shit. We hope all Pinal County Greens will be out not only voting for JoAnna but campaigning for her and contributing to her bid to be Arizona's next great congresswoman."

Pinal County Greens Endorse Susan Bates, Write-In Candidate in the Democratic Primary for Constable in Apache Junction Precinct 6

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., June 1 - The Pinal County Greens met today and endorsed Susan Bates for Constable, the write-in candidate in the Democratic primary for Constable in Apache Junction Precinct 6.

"Susan Bates is well-suited for the Constable position due to her 30+ years of professional problem-solving experience, extensive local community leadership, and her commitment to fairness and compassion in the justice system," said Richard Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens. "We Green Party members urge our friends who are Democrats and independents to vote for her in the Democratic primary on July 21."

Pinal County Greens Endorse Mike Cease for Arizona Corporation Commission

 

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., May 29 — The Pinal County Greens met today and endorsed Green Party candidate Mike Cease for the Arizona Corporation Commission.

"Mike Cease is the best candidate for a seat on this important commission", said Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "We support him."

Pinal County Greens Endorse Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes for Re-election

APACHE JUNCTION, Arizona — The Pinal County Greens executive board met today and endorsed Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes for re-election. 

"Our current governor, secretary of state and attorney general have done a great job in fighting evil dictator Donald Trump, his fascist federal government, and his misguided supporters in Arizona," said Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "Although we are members of the Green Party and not Democrats, we refuse to vote for unqualified spoiler candidates that just might possibly get enough votes to put awful MAGA Republicans in our state's top executive offices."

"That would be a nightmare," Grayson said.

The Pinal County Greens will be working for and contributing to the campaigns of Hobbs, Fontes, and Mayes.

Pinal County Greens Endorse Barack Obama for President, Call on Green Party of the U.S. to Back President Obama for Re-election

 
APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Apr. 23 - 

The Pinal County Greens met today and voted to endorse Barack Obama for President. 

"This decision wasn't that easy, because we have some effective Green candidates running," said Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "Also, the Obama administration has been less progressive than we would have liked. However, only one of two men will be elected President in November, and we greatly prefer President Obama to Governor Romney."  

The Pinal County Greens passed a resolution calling on the Green Party of the U.S. to bypass candidates Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr and instead cross-nominate President Obama for President, giving him the Green Party ballot line in states where cross-endorsements are allowed. 

"The Pinal County Greens will be doing all we can the rest of this election year to support President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden," Grayson said.

Pinal County Greens Attend Social Justice Forum at Central Arizona College

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Apr. 5 -

The Pinal County Greens today attended the Social Justice Forum at Central Arizona College. Here is a report by Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson:

We spent most of the day today at an innovative and informative Social Justice Forum sponsored by Central Arizona College at its Superstition Mountain Campus in Apache Junction. The Social Justice Forum drew its inspiration in part from the well-known words of Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail": "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,"

and it included a terrific keynote address by Dr. Sue Warner, numerous concurrent presentations and sessions on different topics related to the forum's theme, an opportunity fair, discussions about community activism, a film showing, and more (also breakfast and lunch), all for a nominal $10 fee.

The concurrent sessions were held in rooms 442 and 444 on campus, and while everyone had to choose one of two or three during the four blocks of time from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, we got to attend some interesting presentations, starting with attorney Leo Valverde's "The New Face of Poverty" to start.

Leticia Berry, a CAC student who works at the Desert Vista Behavioral Health Hospital and at Parc Place Chandler, an adolescent inpatient treatment facility, delivered a highly informative presentation on the etiology and behavioral symptoms of juvenile sex offenders, their treatment, and how parents can protect their own children.

Another great session featured Dr. Kristen Bishop, a naturopathic medical doctor, leading a discussion on important women's health issues regarding pregnancy and birth -- as a doula, she contrasted various methods of natural childbirth with standardized U.S. hospital births -- and the factors affecting breastfeeding. We've been interested in women's medical care since being involved in an undergraduate campaign to get a gynecologist on the Brooklyn College campus and doing our political science major's seminar paper on the changes going on in reproductive health care back in the early 1970s, and we learned a lot from Dr. Bishop.

At 1 p.m., after lunch and an opportunity fair in which various local organizations of activists from places like the food bank set up tables in the courtyard, we got to hear Dr. Sue Warner, Central Arizona College's chair of Social and Behavioral Sciences, deliver a wide-ranging keynote address titled "The Broken Escalator."

The title came from a video she showed near the end of her presentation, a compendium of varied social justice issues facing the world today, from income and wealth inequality to demonization of "the other" to environmental justice.

As someone who's taught at colleges, law schools and high schools since 1975, we can always recognize a highly effective, inspiring teacher, and Dr. Warner did not merely lecture but skillfully engaged the audience in a thoughtful and provocative discussion.

One of several sessions concerned with LGBT issues -- we missed ones on bullied youth and coming out, affirming churches, and sensitivity training for parents, but we figured that having been active in gay rights for decades, we could learn more at other sessions on less familiar topics -- was a highly interactive presentation and discussion, "Equal Rights: A Call to Action," led by Stacey Jay Cavaliere and Bea Valezquez of One in Ten, an organization we've long admired.

They were master facilitators, funny and warm and intelligent and informative, and they made effective use of group activities, like our discussion using yarn, which effectively tied all the individuals in a varied group together.

A lighter but fascinating change of pace was CAC student Brittni Evans' presentation, "Star Trek: Adventures through Space and Equality," focusing on the social justice issues and messages of equality and inclusion that permeated Gene Roddenberry's original 1960s Star Trek series. (We remember our Midwood High School classmate Neil giving us a petition to sign in the spring of 1967 to stop NBC from canceling it after the first, low-ratings season. It worked, and the show lived long and prospered.)

Another CAC honors student, Jo Beaudry, then spoke on "The Psychology of Hate: Cognitive and Psycho-Sociological Effects of Hate Regarding the LGBTQ Community," a sophisticated presentation involving brain science and cognitive behavior therapy. It was very well-done. We should note that the technology so helpful in these presentations worked pretty flawlessly -- as a college instructor, we know how rare that can be -- thanks to, we think, Cristina Hatler, Melissa Gardner and others involved in the planning for this terrific event.

We had to get to the nursing home to help feed our mom dinner and then do some other work, and so we missed the pizza dinner on campus and the courtyard 8 p.m. screening of Paul Haggis' Oscar-winning film Crash and the discussion afterward. We've seen it a couple of times, first in 2004 in a Plantation, Florida, theater and can see how the movie's L.A.-based interwoven narrative works effectively as a critical reflection instructional tool for diversity and social justice issues dealing with race, gender, and ethnicity.

Speaking of L.A.: although we missed Hanukkah in Santa Monica in December, we're about to head out to spend Pesach in the San Fernando Valley. But we are grateful for everyone involved in making today's Social Justice Forum at Central Arizona College's Superstition Mountain Campus a reminder to us that we don't have to be in New York City, Los Angeles or Miami to find a community concerned with the issues we've been involved with our whole lives.