Congressman Raul Grijalva told The Range last night that the election results in Tucson and elsewhere showed that Democrats “are not an endangered species.”

Grijalva called state Sen. Russell Pearce’s loss in his recall election a “game-changer.”

“There have been a lot of politicians locally and statewide and nationally who have used hate and division as their principle political tool,” said Grijalva, who has been one of loudest critics of Pearce’s signature SB 1070 immigration legislation. “Pearce’s loss is going to make everybody pause.”

There are a lot of folks on the left who say that Pearce is finished politically, but The Range isn’t so sure. We don’t yet know what his future legislative district is going to look like, but Pearce could just as easily shoot for another target: Congress, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (against fellow Republican Don Stapley, who isn’t exactly popular among Pearce’s voters) or even Maricopa County sheriff, should Joe Arpaio decide he’s had enough. (We see no evidence that Sheriff Joe is ready to give up the spotlight, despite the scandal that engulfed his closest advisors.)