Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva Sworn In To Congress 7 Weeks After Being Elected

Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) was officially sworn in to office Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won her special election.

Grijalva was elected to represent Arizona’s 7th Congressional District on Sept. 23, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refused to swear her in, saying he’d wait until the House was back in session during the longest government shutdown in history.

Johnson previously swore in two Republican House members when the lower chamber was out of session.

During remarks after being sworn in, Grijalva called her delayed swearing-in “an abuse of power.”

“It has been 50 days since the people of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District elected me to represent them,” Grijalva said. “Fifty days that over 800,000 Arizonans have been left without access to the basic services that every constituent deserves. 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.”

Last month, Grijalva and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sued the House of Representatives over Johnson’s refusal to swear in the democratically elected representative.

In early October, Grijalva sent an open letter to Johnson accusing him of hurting her constituents.

“The delay in swearing me in is robbing the people of Southern Arizona of essential constituent services,” Grijalva said in the letter. “I am unable to hire staff, open district offices, or respond to constituent concerns.”

Even Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) urged Johnson to swear in Grijalva.

“I want to be careful. I’ve expressed how much I respect Speaker Johnson,” Curtis said on C-SPAN last month. “But the will of the people of Arizona have spoken, right? I think she needs to serve.”

“In my opinion, the will of the people have spoken,” Curtis added. “Let’s get her to work.”

In a conference call with House Republicans on Monday, Johnson reportedly promised that the “first order of business will be to administer the oath to Grijalva.”

Democrats previously accused Johnson of delaying Grijalva’s swearing in partly because she is the key 218th vote for a bipartisan petition related to the release of files regarding Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex trafficker and longtime friend of President Donald Trump.