WASHINGTON — More than seven weeks after her special election victory, Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva stood on the House floor and took the oath of office Wednesday, marking the end of a bitter standoff with GOP Speaker Mike Johnson, who had refused to seat her during the record government shutdown.
Johnson swore Grijalva in as the House opened Wednesday afternoon to applause from both sides of the aisle.
"Congratulations, you are now a member of Congress," he said.
Grijalva's swearing-in shrinks the GOP majority to 219-214, where just three Republican defections can derail any piece of legislation Johnson brings to the floor.
Grijalva’s Sept. 23 landslide victory to replace her late father, the progressive leader Rep. Raul Grijalva, generated few national headlines. But in recent weeks, Democrats publicly clashed with Johnson — in news conferences, staged protests and a face-to-face impromptu meeting outside his office — as they tried to pressure him to administer the oath of office to Grijalva. Arizona’s state attorney general sued the House to try to force Johnson to take action.
In a floor speech after she was sworn in, Grijalva called herself a "proud granddaughter of a bracero" and the "proud daughter of a U.S. congressman ... who spent his entire life fighting for justice, equity and dignity for the most vulnerable."
"It has been 50 days since the people of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District elected me to represent them, 50 days that over 800,000 Arizonans have been left without access to the basic services that every constituent deserves," Grijalva said.
"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 reasons," she said without mentioning Johnson by name.
During the 43-day shutdown — the longest in American history — Democrats claimed that Johnson was refusing to seat Grijalva to prevent the release of the Justice Department’s files from its Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The Epstein matter has plagued President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill, as many in his MAGA base clamor for more transparency concerning the investigation.
Grijalva represents the 218th signature on a bipartisan discharge petition, which will allow rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass Johnson and his leadership team and force a floor vote to release files. She signed the petition as her first act as a member of Congress.
That will force the House to hold a vote in the coming weeks to compel the Justice Department to release all of the files related to its investigation into Epstein. But the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate or be signed into law by Trump, who has personally urged Republicans to block the discharge push.
Johnson has said the delay in swearing in Grijalva had nothing to do with the Epstein petition. The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is already investigating the Epstein matter, Johnson said, and has been releasing troves of records from both the government and the Epstein estate, including a new batch of 20,000 pages on Wednesday.
Johnson held firm, using Grijalva’s swearing-in as leverage in the shutdown fight and vowing only to swear in the congresswoman-elect once enough Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government.
A handful of Democrats did just that, joining all but one Republican in the upper chamber on Monday in voting to fund the government. The House will vote later Wednesday on the package, which includes three full-year federal spending bills and extends funding for the rest of the government through January.
After Grijalva was sworn in in the House chamber, where her father served for more than two decades, Johnson held a traditional ceremonial swearing-in for Grijalva, where he posed for a photo with the new congresswoman.
When a reporter asked why it took so long for Grijalva to be sworn in, Johnson tried to defuse the situation, praising the congresswoman's father and saying she has big shoes to fill.
The older Grijalva was chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, and Johnson said he served under him on that panel.
"Look, I really like this lady. She's going to be an excellent member of Congress," Johnson said.
Raul Grijalva "was a giant around here, served a long time, served his state very well," he continued. "I ... admired the way he did the work. He was tenacious, so she has a proud family legacy and we are delighted to have her here."
