Congratulations Representative Adelita Grijalva!

By: Miriam Edelman

DCNOW congratulates Representative Adelita Grijalva (AG) (D-AZ) on finally being sworn into office on November 12, 2025, 50 days after her victory in a special election. The delay was the longest that a victor in a Congressional special election had to wait before being sworn in.

On March 13, 2025, Representative Raúl Grijalva (RG) (D-AZ), a son of an immigrant from Mexico, died at age 77 of complications from cancer treatment. After he was a community organizer in Tucson, Arizona, he served on a school board and then the Pima County Board of Supervisors. A member of the House for 12 terms, A strong proponent of environmental protection, RG chaired the House Natural Resources Committee and was its top Democrat until earlier in 2025. RG also had led the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In April 2024, he announced that he had cancer.

AG was elected to replace RG, her father. After winning the primary special election on July 15^th, she won the general special election on September 23rd. Like her father, she rose through government before being elected to Congress. AG served on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board and the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refused to swear AG into office during the government shutdown when the House was not in session although he had said he would swear her into office “as soon as she wants.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Representative Jamie Raskin (D-NY), and AG thought that Johnson refused to seat AG because AG would be the critical 218^th vote on a discharge petition to force the House to vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Epstein, a registered sex offender, faced federal charges related to sex trafficking, before he took his own life in jail in 2019. Epstein had ties with President Donald Trump and others. Johnson also began August recess early so the House would not take action on the files.

However, Johnson denied the delay related to the Epstein files, and he made several rationales for what he was doing. Although he had sworn in Representatives Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) and Randy Fine (R-FL) just earlier this year during “pro forma” sessions when the House was not in session, Johnson did not do the same with Grijalva. Instead, he said he followed the “Pelosi precedent.” He referred to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) swearing in multiple Representatives weeks after they won special elections in 2022.

The House met in pro forma session during this long delay. After a pro forma session, AG said: “There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been sworn in, and it’s very problematic, because we’re facing a government shutdown. We’re going to have constituents who have questions, and there is nobody there to answer questions.”

Due to the delay, AG could not do the job that she was elected to do. She could not freely go around the Capitol complex. She also did not have access to her office’s budget, and she was not able to use office supplies. AG said:

“I have no staff ... The phones don't work. There's no computer.”

“We have no access to government email, casework systems, and other basic infrastructure. Moreover, we cannot sign any leases for in-district offices to provide constituent services.”

“He is piecemealing the most basic tools of a functioning office -- handing me the keys to a car with no engine, no tires, and no fuel. This would all be resolved if he simply did his job, swore me in, and stopped protecting pedophiles. I can't do my job until he does his.”

On October 14^th, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened legal action in a letter to Johnson with a cc to United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro. Mayes ended her first paragraph: “Failing to seat Ms. Grijalva immediately or to otherwise

provide a reasonable explanation as to when she will be seated will prompt legal action.” Later in the letter, Mayes wrote:

“The effect of your failure to follow usual practice is that Arizona is down a representative from the number to which it is constitutionally entitled. And the more than 813,000 residents of Arizona’s Seventh Congressional District currently have no representation in Congress. The “loss of a Representative to the United States Congress undoubtedly satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III standing.” Dep’t of Com. v. United States House of Reps., 525 U.S. 316, 331 (1999). The question of entitlement to a seat in the House is justiciable and is not a political question. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 522 (1969); see Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 217 (1962).”

Johnson brushed off threats of legal action. He said it is “a publicity stunt by a Democrat Attorney General in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out.”

In late October, Mayes and AG sued the House. They argued that Johnson did not have the authority to not seat AG. According to the case, this delay violated AG’s right to take office and Arizona’s right to full representation in Congress. Meyes said:

“By blocking Adelita Grijalva from taking her rightful oath of office, he is subjecting Arizona’s seventh Congressional district to taxation without representation. I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy.”

On November 12^th, Speaker Johnson finally swore AG into office. AG made history as Arizona’s first Latina Member of Congress. Some Members of Arizona’s House delegation spoke on the House Floor. Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) said:

“[N]ow with great pride, I rise today to do something we have waited 50 long days to do. Exactly 49 days too long, and that is to introduce our colleague from Arizona, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva. Since September 23rd, the people of Arizona have been waiting for this day, and the excuses for the delay have changed seemingly daily. First, they said they need election certificate, though one isn't required. Then, they wanted to make sure there was enough pomp and circumstance. Then, we were informed about a non-existent Pelosi precedent. At one point, the Speaker went on television and said, quote, ‘Bless her heart. She is representative-elect. She doesn't know how it works around here.’ Bless his heart because here's how it should work. Let's call it the Adelita Grijalva precedent. When the American people vote, this chamber respects their will and seats them immediately. Politics should never come into play.”

Then, AG spoke on the House Floor:

“It has been 50 days since the people of Arizona's seventh congressional district elected me to represent them. Fifty days that over 800,000 Arizonans have been left without access to the basic services that every constituent deserves. This is an abuse of power. One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a duly-elected member of Congress for political reason. Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice.

After Johnson conducted a ceremonial swearing-in of AG, he defended the delay:

“She may not agree with me, but we followed the custom of the House on the timetable, and we've had a little, as we say in the Deep South, some intense fellowship about that. Okay, but she's here now, and I promised that we would have her the oath administered before we began legislative business. So, she hasn't missed a vote.”

AG’s delayed swearing-in highlights the importance of all Americans having voting representation in Congress. The delay, while unwarranted, is a miniscule fraction of the centuries-long period of taxation without representation experienced by residents of Washington, D.C. Let’s finally grant statehood to Washington, D.C.