House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has repeatedly denied that the delay in swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., has anything to do with her intent to be the last signature needed to force a vote on releasing more Jeffrey Epstein case files. But even after the speaker’s latest assurances, the Democratic politician told Salon she isn’t buying it.
“I’m very skeptical because as soon as he said, ‘Hey, we’ll schedule it whenever she wants to,’ he quickly rolled back on that statement,” Grijalva said in an interview Tuesday evening. “He is not scheduling us to be in session anytime in the near future, so me getting sworn in is completely, right now, under his purview.”
To change that, Grijalva said she’s exploring legal action.
Two weeks have passed since the representative-elect handily won Arizona’s special election, filling a seat vacated by her deceased father. Johnson has delayed swearing her in, most recently citing his colleagues’ absence amid the government shutdown as a justification. When pressed Tuesday on why he needed to wait for the full House’s return to hold the ceremony, the speaker told CNN that “we’ll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants.” He has since walked the statement back, with a leadership aide insisting that they will swear Grijalva in when Senate Democrats “decide to open up the government” and the House returns to session.
Grijalva and several of her future Democratic colleagues, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., suspect Johnson is stalling because Grijalva intends to be the 218th signatory of the discharge petition Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., filed to compel the Justice Department to release documents related to Epstein.
“I can’t point to any other issue that differentiates me from the three other people that were sworn in on specials within 24 hours of their election,” Grijalva said, referencing Reps. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., and Randy Fine, R-Fla..
Notably, Johnson swore in Patronis and Fine back in April during a pro forma session — congressional meetings in which no legislative business occurs — just a day after their elections.
In a Wednesday interview with NewsNation, Johnson said these procedures were unique exceptions made because the date for swearing the lawmakers in had already been set prior to the session’s cancellation, and because the representatives-elect had flown in their families. Asked whether Grijalva flying in her family would prompt him to swear her in, Johnson insisted that Congress hasn’t yet scheduled the ceremony because it’s in pro forma. He then called the controversy a distraction.
Grijalva, for her part, said that she thinks Johnson is trying to buy time to convince one of the four Republican lawmakers who signed the Epstein petition — Reps. Massie; Lauren Boebert, Colo.; Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ga.; and Nancy Mace, S.C. — to remove their names. None of them have shown signs of wavering.
“I don’t think that he’s been successful, which is why I believe that this dragging of feet is happening,” she said.
After Johnson’s Tuesday afternoon comments to CNN, Grijalva said that Jeffries immediately reached out to the speaker to set a date for her swearing-in ceremony. The speaker told Jeffries then that he meant they would schedule it when Congress is back in session.
A spokesperson for Johnson echoed that point in a statement to Salon, noting that “it’s a customary practice in the House to swear in members when the chamber is in legislative session.”
We need your help to stay independent
The Arizona Democrat said her team sent Johnson a letter Monday and, as of Tuesday evening, had not received a response. She has since contacted Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, to discuss whether she has options for legal action.
A spokesperson for Mayes said that the attorney general is reviewing the matter.
“The people of Arizona’s 7th District deserve to have their elected representative seated in Congress,” the spokesperson said. “Attorney General Mayes believes Speaker Johnson should stop the political games and swear Ms. Grijalva in without delay.”
As it stands, Grijalva is a representative in title only. Without being formally being sworn in, she has no budget, is unable to hire staff, cannot open her district office or even access her Capitol office. She’s alarmed by the prospect of the same stalling happening to others after the 2026 midterm elections.
“This is complete obstruction, and that’s not the way our democracy was founded,” Grijalva said, rejecting the notion that she couldn’t be sworn in, for instance, during Wednesday’s pro forma session.
Start your day with essential news from Salon.
Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.
“I’m seriously concerned with the precedent that the delay in swearing me in is setting for future races across the country. If the speaker doesn’t want to swear us in, he doesn’t have to?” she said. “We cannot just ignore the will of the people.”
Arizonans elected Grijalva by a landslide last month, choosing her over her Republican opponent by 42.9 points. She succeeds her father, the late Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who served in the House of Representatives from 2003 until his death in March.
Ultimately, she said, it’s her constituents who lose representation while she’s denied a seat in Congress. More than 800,000 Arizonans in the southern district have gone two weeks without any direct representation, only receiving assistance from Democratic Sens. Rubén Gallego and Mark Kelly’s offices since Grijalva’s Sept. 23 victory shuttered the District 7 office.
“I take the privilege that [Arizona voters] have given me incredibly seriously, and I will not stop fighting until I am sworn in,” Grijalva said. “Then, once there, I will continue to fight for CD 7 and the people of this community.”
This story has been updated with a statement from a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
