Raúl Grijalva and Daniel Wood clash over COVID-19, immigration in 3rd Congressional District race debate
Daniel Wood, the Republican challenging nine-term Rep. Raúl Grijalva said Monday he rejected media reports that President Donald Trump paid little to no income tax in recent years and that Trump had disparaged U.S. troops.
Wood, a political novice and retired Marine questioned whether the COVID-19 pandemic's death toll in America is more accurately about 9,000 instead of more than 200,000, as has been widely reported. He also was unbothered by reports that Trump had ripped the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whom Wood said he "doesn't support."
"I support the president because I don't trust what the news is saying. I don't trust mainstream media whatsoever," Wood said in a 30-minute debate Monday with Grijalva on Arizona PBS (Channel 8).
Wood said he thinks Trump "did the best he could" in his handling of the pandemic.
"The president had to deal with something that was chaotic. What he did was take it step by step," Wood said, comparing it to his own experience responding to accident scenes. "He went on the advice of his advisers. I can't fault him for that."
Grijalva, a Democrat and the most senior member of Arizona's U.S. House delegation, brushed away suggestions that voters may want change.
"If that change is to replace me with someone who has the philosophy of Donald Trump, that sees the pandemic as a hoax, that doesn't believe in climate science ... if they think it's time to do that, then it will happen," Grijalva said.
"The American people are hurting right now. They've been devastated by this pandemic. I think the leadership you need is a proven capacity for hard work, and that's what I've brought to this table time and time again."
Grijalva and Wood are running in Arizona's 3rd Congressional District, which includes part of Tucson and Yuma. Monday's debate was the first in a series co-hosted by The Arizona Republic, Arizona PBS, KJZZ-FM (91.5) and Arizona Public Media.
Grijalva, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, is seeking a 10th term in Washington that would continue to boost his seniority on Capitol Hill.
Wood, who works for Bulletproof Securities, a Scottsdale-based personal-protection firm, is making his first run for office.
Grijalva faces voters again after surviving a bout of COVID-19 while working in Washington and battling the Trump administration over environmental concerns and the welfare of Native Americans.
Wood has drawn perhaps the most attention to his campaign for having expressed an interest in QAnon, the right-wing conspiracy theory involving a child sex-trafficking ring run by politicians.
On Monday, Wood also hit Grijalva for the present state of America's immigration problems.
"He's been in for 18 years and done nothing," Wood said of Grijalva.
Grijalva agreed the system is broken but blamed it on GOP resistance to changes in the years when President Barack Obama was president and Trump stoking partisan anger over it.
The 3rd Congressional District is among the most Democratic-leaning in Arizona. Grijalva defeated his GOP opponent in 2018 by 28 percentage points.
Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.
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