Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said this election will be his last after already serving 22 years in Congress.

Grijalva told 13 News in Tucson on Monday that he was not “abandoning” his job, but rather that he was planning his retirement because it was “time for someone else and it’s time for somebody younger.”

Grijalva, 76, was the second House Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to step aside amid concerns about his age.

Grijalva, who represents a district that includes his hometown of Tucson and much of Arizona’s border with Mexico, was first elected to Congress in 2002. He’s likely to receive that last term. The race is rated Solid Democratic by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and in 2022 he won with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Grijalva has been out of Washington for much of the year after announcing his lung cancer diagnosis in April. In July he completed treatment and said that he is currently “90 percent” recovered and in physical therapy. He has missed more than 300 votes, but described those votes as “inconsequential because the Republicans are in charge and it’s the worst-performing Congress in decades if not 100 years.”

Grijalva became the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee in 2014, and in 2018 he became chairman when Democrats regained the majority. He leapfrogged members who had more seniority, in part because of endorsements from a number of environmental groups. He once again became ranking member when Republicans took the majority in 2023.

He used his tenure as chairman to advance bills aiming to increase protections for public lands and require the federal government to more strongly consider environmental disparities in low-income and minority communities.

“For more than 20 years, our public lands have had no greater friend than Raul Grijalva,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program. “His passion, advocacy, and leadership have protected precious landscapes for future generations, honored the Tribes who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial, and offered a hopeful vision for taking on the climate crisis.” 

Grijalva was co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for 10 years until 2019.