Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., speaks outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
More than three weeks after winning her congressional race, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva never imagined her fight to get sworn into office would take this long.
The Arizona Democrat has keys to her office, but not much else.
“I have no staff … The phones don’t work. There’s no computer,” Grijalva says from her sparsely furnished office on Capitol Hill. “We don’t have a government email.”
That bumpy start to Grijalva’s new political career in Washington is courtesy of the same intense, partisan tensions that have come to dominate the 119th Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says he won’t swear in Grijalva until the government shutdown is over.
“This is the process of the House, we’ll do it as soon as we get back to business,” he said.
It’s a departure for Johnson, who has previously sworn in new members from both parties within days of winning their races.
The Speaker had previously said he would swear in the winner of the Arizona race as soon as they wanted. He later said the winner should enjoy the “pomp and circumstance” that’s part of the ceremony, but only available when the government is open.
As a result, Johnson is facing accusations from both sides of the aisle that he’s trying to avoid a vote to compel the release of files from the Justice Department’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Grijalva won her seat on Sept. 23rd in a special election to represent the state’s 7th congressional district — a border district that includes parts of Tucson.
On the campaign trail, Grijalva promised to sign onto a bipartisan petition to force a vote in the House to release the Epstein files. Hers would mark the decisive 218th signature to trigger that vote — an effort that’s been led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
“I remember on election night, someone came up to me and said, ‘I don’t think they’re going to swear you in because of those Epstein files,'” Grijalva says. “And I thought, ‘oh my gosh, that’s very much a conspiracy theory. Like that’s not going to happen.’ And here we are.”
Johnson has called claims that he’s trying to delay Grijalva’s swearing in a “partisan manufactured thing.”
He says Republicans are already working on releasing records as part of an investigation being led by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee.
“The bulldogs in Congress are on that committee, and they’re all joined together in a bipartisan fashion digging through and releasing documents,” Johnson told reporters earlier this week.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrives to talk to reporters about the government shutdown on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Johnson’s explanations have infuriated Grijalva’s supporters. Democrats have taken to the House floor to call for her to be seated. On Tuesday, a group of lawmakers marched to Johnson’s office chanting, “Swear her in.”
The delay has also angered those hoping for a vote on the Epstein files. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has accused Johnson of “protecting pedophiles,” and during a tense exchange outside of the Speaker’s office last week, said Johnson was delaying the swearing in because he does not want Grijalva to sign the discharge petition. Johnson called the allegation “totally absurd,” saying Democrats are “experts at red herrings.”
The standoff could be inching its way toward the courts. On Tuesday, after the state certified Grijalva’s election results, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened legal action to try to force the oath of office.
Grijalva is the daughter of her predecessor — the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who held the seat for more than 20 years until his death from lung cancer in March.
Grijalva says her dad set a high bar in office with his constituents, one she hopes to follow once she’s finally seated.
She tears up when she considers what he would make of her fight to get seated.
“I think he would just be kinda laughing,” she said, “scratching his head at like, my kid is, you know, making a splash.”
Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim contributed to this report