WASHINGTON, D.C. (KGUN) — Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva on Tuesday urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to immediately swear her into Congress after Arizona state officials completed the canvass of the special election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District and Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter demanding her swearing-in.
In a statement released Oct. 14, Grijalva said the certification “simply confirms what the voters made clear 21 days ago: we won this election decisively by more than 40,000 votes.” She thanked Governor Katie Hobbs, Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes for “fulfilling their duties and standing up for the more than 800,000 Arizonans who currently do not have a voice in Congress.”
Grijalva said she had previously sent Speaker Johnson a letter on Oct. 6 requesting a swearing-in date and that she will travel to Washington this week with her Democratic colleagues to press Republicans to both negotiate an end to the current government shutdown and to seat her. “They did their jobs, now it's time for Speaker Johnson to do his,” she said.
The representative-elect also thanked Mayes for the attorney general’s letter and said she will remain in close contact with Mayes as they “explore legal options if the Speaker continues to drag his feet.” Grijalva accused Johnson of double standards, saying he had sworn in Republican colleagues within 24 hours of their special elections earlier this year and during pro forma sessions, and asserting any further delay is motivated by a desire to block her from becoming the 218th signature on a discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
The statement did not say whether the House leadership has set a date to swear Grijalva in.
