U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is expected to be sworn in this week, ahead of the House vote on a government funding bill, Scripps News has confirmed.
Grijalva won a special election in Arizona’s 7th congressional district in late September, but House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to swear her in. He said it was due to the House not being in session, which has been prolonged due to the government shutdown.
Finally? Good. This was pure, petty power play from Johnson, using a shutdown technicality to keep a duly elected member off the floor. It was transparent, insulting to voters, and a disgrace to basic democratic norms.
Grijalva pushed back and took legal action, and that pressure is what actually moved the needle, not any supposed procedural purity from the Speaker. If the motive really was to stall a discharge petition on the Epstein files, that is grotesque. Hope she gets sworn in, signs the petition, and we get the answers people deserve.