#representative elect

🚨OUTRAGEOUS: Mike Johnson says he “explained” to Adelita Grijalva that she should “get to work and serve her constituents” even though he STILL REFUSES to swear her in.

SHE HAS NO OFFICE AND NO STAFF.

When it comes to seating the Democratic representative-elect, House Speaker Mike Johnson is running out of excuses — and facing a possible court fight.

Democrat Adelita Grijalva cruised to a landslide victory a few weeks ago, winning her congressional special election by roughly 40 points. Once sworn in, she’ll be Arizona’s first Latina congresswoman, succeeding her father, the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, and she’ll narrow the GOP majority in the House: Republicans will hold 219 seats to the Democrats’ 214, with two vacancies remaining.

'We're not messing around': Arizona AG gives Speaker Johnson 2 days to say when Grijalva will be sworn in, otherwise, she says she'll sue

Arizona AG Kris Mayes argues constituents of Grijalva – who would likely be the final signature on a petition to force a House vote to release the Epstein files – are being "taxed without representation."

Oct. 21, 2025, 2:32 PM MST

By Erum Salam

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva on Tuesday sued the U.S. House in federal court in Washington, D.C. for its delay in swearing the Arizona Democrat into office.

WASHINGTON ― The decision by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to keep the House of Representatives out of session during a government shutdown has a curious side effect: It’s delaying a vote on the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Johnson canceled votes last week and this week. He said the House will only return after the Senate approves a government funding bill that the House passed before the government shut down last week. So far, Senate Democrats haven’t budged in their demands for health policy changes.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said the House is actually out of session to thwart his “discharge petition” to allow a vote on the Justice Department’s investigatory files on Epstein.

“Why are we in recess? Because the day we go back into session, I have 218 votes for the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files,” Massie wrote Sunday on social media.

Discharge petitions allow rank-and-file lawmakers to go around party leadership to force votes. Such petitions need 218 signatures to succeed. Massie has 217, and there’s a new member waiting to be sworn in who will provide the 218th signature.