Three weeks ago, Rep. Raúl Grijalva wrote a letter to Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee saying he fully intends on leading the panel again next Congress. The problem is, Democrats on the committee aren’t so sure he should.
Grijalva was diagnosed with lung cancer in February, and some Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee told NOTUS they’ve barely seen the top Democrat on the panel this year.
“Ever since he got sick, I have not really had much interaction at all,” one Democrat on the committee said. “I hope that he’s speaking with the staff.”
Another Democratic member on the panel told NOTUS that Grijalva had been so sick with cancer treatments that lawmakers couldn’t even get a response from him.
“To be so ill that you’re not responding to text messages or phone calls, to be so ill that you’re completely absent, is scary to me,” this Democrat said.
And yet another Democratic lawmaker said it was their understanding that hardly anyone is communicating with Grijalva about issues on the committee.
“Even his staff, if they have to talk to him, they have to go through his wife’s cell phone,” this third lawmaker said. “It’s like a Woodrow Wilson situation.”
Since his diagnosis, Grijalva has missed hundreds of votes, dozens of committee meetings, and colleagues say they have been almost entirely unable to reach him.
“The committee has really suffered all year for having no leader,” one member told NOTUS. “We have been completely missing from the ranking members meeting, which is a critical interface between the committee and leadership.”
“There has not been a single meeting or Zoom or even phone call with the subcommittee ranking members to talk about the business of the committee or to get people on the same page, which is something that a functional committee does regularly,” this member continued.
Another Democrat told NOTUS that Grijalva’s absence from hearings has been detrimental in their fight against “MAGA talking points.”
“We’ve had others fill in and have done an admirable job trying to fill in, but having a coherent pushback with a chair that’s able to do the job physically, I think, is very important,” the member said.
Grijalva, 76, announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection in 2026, telling KOLD News 13 that it’s “time for someone else, and it’s time for somebody younger.”
But despite his absence this year, Grijalva has told colleagues he’s getting better and intends to lead the Natural Resources panel next year.
In an Oct. 9 letter to fellow Democrats on the committee that was obtained by NOTUS, Grijalva told lawmakers he was “eager to finish the job.”
“My hair is growing back, my energy is up, and I am eager to return to the Capitol,” he wrote, adding that he had “even quit smoking.”
Rep. Val Hoyle of Oregon, another Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, told NOTUS that she was first and foremost concerned with Grijalva’s health. (All of the lawmakers NOTUS spoke with expressed their hope that Grijalva would get better.)
But Hoyle detailed a number of ways in which Grijalva’s absence had hampered Democrats on the panel, from a lack of communication with members to bills making it to the floor that put vulnerable Democrats in tough spots.
“I appreciate Raúl Grijalva’s prioritization of Indigenous issues, his commitment to tribal nations having a voice. It’s something I really respect about him,” she said.
“All that being said,” Hoyle continued, “we’ve had seven months. We need an active chair or ranking member, and so far, the only two people I know who are running are Raúl and Jared Huffman.”
Huffman has emerged as the consensus pick on the committee to succeed Grijalva, and members said it was their impression that Huffman was running for the position, even if he hadn’t formally announced his candidacy.
(Huffman, for his part, would only say, “I wish my good friend Raúl Grijalva a full recovery and hope I see him soon.”)
But in an E&E News story published Thursday evening, Huffman said he had “a heart-to-heart dinner” with Grijalva a year ago — “before he got sick” — and that Grijalva confirmed he wanted Huffman to succeed him.
Grijalva, however, contested that version of events in the E&E story.
“We went to dinner and he said, ‘Would you think about this?’ and I said sure. I was being considerate because he was very earnest about … my stepping down as [top Democrat] and him assuming the seat,” Grijalva said to E&E.
“Ranking Member Grijalva has been bravely fighting a battle with cancer for the majority of the past year,” a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Committee said in a statement to NOTUS. “He successfully finished treatment and is now actively undergoing physical therapy so he can return to D.C. as soon as possible. Even though his physical presence has been sorely missed over the past several months, his 22-year career as one of Congress’ most visionary progressive leaders and foremost champions for environmental justice, tribal sovereignty, and climate action continues to inspire meaningful action and policy both on and off the Hill.”
“While only the ‘anonymous’ members can speak to their motivations for the comments they made about Ranking Member Grijalva behind closed doors, Committee Democrats’ effectiveness cannot be cited as a factor,” the spokesperson continued. “Committee staff have continued to engage with Ranking Member Grijalva while he has been out, relying on his guidance and leadership in the continued fight against Republicans’ pro-polluter agenda, and his fellow Committee Democrats have graciously stepped in to fill in for him without issue.”
“If there are other motivations at play for these anonymous members’ comments, Ranking Member Grijalva is open to having a conversation rather than playing these guessing games through the press,” the spokesperson added.
But Grijalva actually does seem to be playing a guessing game when it comes to his successor. And he now apparently prefers someone other than Huffman, who’s from California, to follow him as the top Democrat on Natural Resources.
“What I think is important is to have somebody from the Southwest, somebody that understands desert and the relationship to water, understands Indigenous tribes,” the Arizona Democrat told E&E. Grijalva also seemed to take a thinly veiled shot at Huffman when he raised concerns that “people behind me in seniority” on the committee were “more oriented” toward “water, streams, fisheries.”
(Huffman is the second-most senior Democrat on Natural Resources, and he is the ranking member of the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee.)
Despite Grijalva’s apparent misgivings about Huffman, other committee members told NOTUS that Huffman was the clear successor.
“We have needed Congressman Huffman pinch-hitting. We have desperately needed him. And he stepped up to the plate,” one of the previously mentioned Democratic lawmakers said.
While some of the Democrats who spoke to NOTUS had differences with Huffman — multiple members noted he hails from a deep blue district, and one said he sometimes has a “smarmy” communication style — all of them said Huffman should take the reins next.
“I think a graceful passing of the torch to Jared Huffman makes the most sense,” one of the lawmakers said. “I think he’s very well-liked among committee members, and I think he’s the natural next leader of that committee.”
This Democrat pointed out that Huffman had actually already stepped forward in one regard: fundraising.
“Jared has paid his dues,” this Democrat said.
The lawmaker was talking metaphorically, but they might as well have been talking literally.
Every lawmaker is supposed to pay a certain dollar amount to the campaign arm of their party, known on Capitol Hill as “dues.”
The dollar amount depends on your status and how difficult your district is, but according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo laying out fundraising and contribution goals — the “dues” — Grijalva was supposed to transfer $300,000 to the DCCC this cycle. He only contributed $17,000.
Meanwhile, Huffman has dispersed $195,000 to the DCCC, according to the memo, exceeding his $190,000 dues.
Since 2018, Grijalva has only transferred $69,000 to the DCCC, according to a source with access to the DCCC numbers, while Huffman has transferred more than 10 times that amount, $725,000.
Another issue that two members brought up was Grijalva’s alleged drinking.
“Raúl is drunk a lot. A lot,” one of the members previously quoted said. “And it is an issue. I mean, he’s over at the Tune Inn. And that’s fine. But it’s kind of excessive.”
Any Capitol Hill denizen who has spent time at Tune Inn has likely seen Grijalva there — then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (who was previously a congressman and is now back in the House) has attacked Grijalva for his frequent drinking at the Tune Inn — but one of the Democrats who spoke to NOTUS also said they had seen him drunk while conducting congressional business.
Still, these members insisted their issues were about leading the Natural Resources Committee effectively.
“We want him to get better, and no one is begrudging his absence, but he has been completely absent,” one of the Democrats said. “And in his absence, Jared has been raising money for members and filling the void in that leadership role, covering an empty base.”
“We are workaholics,” another one of the previously quoted Democrats said. “I mean, not in a complimentary way. Like, we cannot help ourselves. This is an all-consuming, 24-hour-a-day physical addiction. You have to be physically able.”
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Mark Alfred and Samuel Larreal are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.
Matt Fuller is Capitol Hill bureau chief at NOTUS.