Deja Foxx -- the Gen Z AOC in Southern AZ
I spent a couple hours this afternoon with this amazing leader ... here is why I'm supporting her ... and why I hope you will, too.
I am hopeful about politics.
I am energized about our future.
I am genuinely moved to tears … the good kind … by someone running for office.
And no … I’m not on mushrooms.
I just spent two hours this afternoon with Deja Foxx, candidate for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District.
Deja is brilliant.
Deja is passionate.
Deja Foxx is 25 years old. When she wins, she will be the first Gen Z member of the U.S. Congress.
Click on this link to watch a short (two-minute) video introducing her (sorry — I couldn’t figure out how to embed it).
Deja’s story is inspirational enough. She was homeless as a teenager because of her mother’s struggles with substance abuse. While going to my alma mater, University High School, in Tucson, she worked nights at a gas station … and also began her advocacy and activism career fighting for better sex education in Tucson Unified School District — and got changes made in a curriculum that hadn’t been updated since I was in school there in the 1980s.
When Republicans voted to defund Planned Parenthood, she went toe-to-toe with Sen. Jeff Flake (reminiscent of another one of my heroes, Ady Barkan) on his vote and got arrested on the capitol steps.
Watch this short video from 2022:
At age 19, she became of the youngest presidential campaign staffers in history, leading Influencer Strategy for Kamala Harris in 2026. Lasat year, she used her platform as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention to shine a light on the ways the rising cost of living, restrictions on reproductive rights, and student debt affect her generation.
OK … that’s impressive enough. And it made me want to spend a few hours this afternoon listening to Deja. And yet what I experienced there is why I am filled with hope and energy, and found me wiping away the tears.
She listened more than she talked.
Way more.
Gathering with mostly students of color in the basement of the student center at the U of A’s African American Student Association, after a basic introduction, she let them do most of the talking … and at the end she let them ask her anything.
Now … I’ve seen candidates try to do this. Ask what is on the audience’s heart and look for key words to launch into stump speech segments. That isn’t what happened here. She created an intimate space of vulnerability. She listened deeply … asking the students and others gathered not just to talk about issues but inviting them to share personal stories of how those issues impacted them.
When a trans image of God talked about her fear of losing gender affirming care, she thanked her for her vulnerability and invited her to share more about what that would mean to her.
When a person who had just returned from the Peace Corps in Ecuador talked about his deep concern that we adopt a new urbanism that connected communities instead of a sprawling suburbanism that isolated us within our communities, she asked him to say more and make it personal.
Then she linked the concerns together and didn’t give us a list of her own accomplishments or any “if you send me to Washington” bullshit that I’ve heard so many times before.
Instead she gathered everyone in that room around a sense that this was all of our work … and that we will do it as we work together.
When I had a chance to say what was important to me, I talked about how I was just so very tired and frustrated with politicians and institutions who shrink back in fear and don’t stand up for what we believe in. Who compromise core principles that put vulnerable people in danger not because they believe that is the way forward but because they are afraid of losing the power they had or costing themselves money.
I’ve expressed that frustration to many people … especially as I was in the process of losing my last job. And I know the difference between people who truly vibe with that and those who are blowing smoke up my ass or trying to justify incrementalism.
Not Deja.
Her passion came out.
She talked about how we need to be willing to be obstructors … reminding me of Bonhoeffer’s words of “We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.'
Or even BE the spoke that is driven into the wheel.
I came this afternoon expecting to meet a really smart young person who had amazing ideas. Who I met was a compassionate leader I would follow into battle.
This is the first you’ve heard from me about Deja Foxx, but it won’t be the last.
Yes … Deja Foxx is 25. Her winning a Congressional seat would be unprecedented.
And I am already hearing the naysayers. She can’t win. She doesn’t fit the profile.
Two things about that.
First, the math is doable. This is a special election in the middle of July. Expected voter turnout is around 60,000 … which means if we can get 30,000 people in a district where the median age is 34 to vote for a younger candidate … we win.
But mostly …
This is not the time for business as usual., This is the time for leaders who will not back down and represent people who are most vulnerable because the ARE those people (Deja is currently living without health insurance).
She is an underdog in her three-person race … facing the daughter of progressive icon Raul Grijalva (one of my heroes), whose death opened this seat to begin with … and a former State Rep who is being backed by AIPAC and the Zionist lobby.
She is in it to win … and I am in it to help her. And I am asking you to listen to her, to learn about her, and wherever you are … to join me.
That means click here - https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dejafoxx — and make a gift.
That means subscribe to her Substack and her Instagram feeds.
That means spread the word … even if you don’t live in Tucson, you can generate support around the country and around the world for this extraordinary leader.
I am hopeful about politics.
I am energized about our future.
I am genuinely moved to tears … the good kind … by someone running for office.
And I want that for you, too.
I want that for all of us.
Read about Deja in Teen Vogue.
If you think 25 years old is too young to be in Congress — read Deja’s response here.
Read this story in People Magazine about Deja telling her mom she was running for Congress.
Finally … watch or listen to this interview Jim Acosta had with Deja.
Watch. Listen. Learn. Then I hope you will join me in helping send Deja Foxx to Congress in 2025.
I hope she wins. It’s time for a change.
I am loving Deja Foxx, we need her to win. Donate to her I did.