Gallego calls out Speaker Johnson for refusal to swear in Adelita Grijalva

It’s been more than two weeks since Adelita Grijalva won the special election to fill the seat representing Arizona’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the GOP-led Congress has repeatedly refused to swear her in.

Amid a week-long government shutdown and as legislators continue to place blame on the opposing party, Senate Democrats from Arizona, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), demanding they get back to work and allow the soon-to-be Arizona representative to begin working in Washington, D.C.

With nearly 70% of the vote, she won the Sept. 23 election, making her the first Latina and Chicana representative from Arizona in Congress. The historic election was especially meaningful during Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month and as the Trump administration has raided immigrant Latino communities across the state and nation, detaining citizens and non-citizens alike.

The seat has been vacant since her late father, Raul Grijalva, died of cancer in March of this year, leaving over 700,000 Arizonans, including several tribal nations, without a representative.

Kelly said to reporters during a Wednesday press conference held outside the speaker’s office that Democrats were ready to negotiate, but Johnson “is keeping all of his Republican colleagues and his caucus on an extended summer vacation,” video of the presser shows.

When Johnson emerged from his office, he responded to Kelly’s comment about hoping to see Grijalva in the Capitol soon with, “Yeah, reopen the government so we can get back to work,” video shows.

“Adelita Grijalva is not here… because Mike Johnson wants to do two things. Number one, cover up for pedophiles on the Epstein list,” Gallego added, the video shows. The other involves getting his party members to commit to health care measures to reopen the government.

His comment mirrors what Grijalva and other Democrats say is the reason for the delay: it would prohibit her from signing a petition to force a vote on a bill to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Her signature — which she has already promised to add to the petition — would be the last needed to make the vote possible.

The speaker, however, categorized those accusations as “absurd,” saying the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was investigating the matter.

Johnson has made his position clear. He will not swear in Grijalva until the government reopens, hoping to pressure the Democrats into approving a GOP-crafted federal funding bill, essentially holding Grijalva’s position hostage until Democrats agree to vote in favor. 

On Thursday, Democrats and at least one Republican senator rejected the GOP bill, while most Republicans, aided by two Democrats and one independent senator, refused to pass the Democratic bill.

Earlier this year, Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, Republicans from Florida, were sworn in outside the regular House session, a day after they won their special elections. Because Grijalva also won her seat via a special election, it would follow precedent to swear her in during a pro forma session.

However, Johnson said those were exceptional circumstances and Grijalva was elected when the House was out of session. “I am anxious to administer the oath to her,” he said.

“There’s a way for all of us to actually get things done, protect the government workers, extend these affordable health care tax credits, but not when Johnson’s keeping his people out of session, and certainly not while he’s keeping a duly elected member of Congress from Arizona that should have been sworn in by all standards by now,” Gallego said during the press conference.

On Friday, Grijalva took to social media, encouraging voters to fight back and sign her petition “demanding that Speaker Johnson end the obstruction and swear me in immediately.”

“Last month, voters in Southern Arizona elected me to Congress but Republicans are playing political games, delaying my swearing-in and blocking me from taking office,” she said in a video on her Instagram account.

“They know I’ll be the 218th member needed to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files,” she added. “This is about the people of Arizona’s 7th District who are being left without representation, all to protect Trump while silencing the voices of our community.”