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Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Images

On September 23, Arizona voters voted overwhelmingly to elect Adelita Grijalva to succeed her late father, Raúl Grijalva, in the House. But after more than three weeks, House Speaker Mike Johnson has continued to block Grijalva from being sworn in as an official member of the chamber, a move her Democratic colleagues see as an attempt to block a vote on the release of the Epstein files.

On Tuesday, Grijalva returned to Washington, D.C., after her election victory was officially certified by Arizona officials. Politico reports that the representative-elect joined dozens of House Democrats in marching to Johnson’s office to demand that she be sworn into office. She then joined other Democrats, including her fellow members of the Arizona congressional delegation, outside the Capitol, where they continued to push for Grijalva’s swearing-in.

Speaker Johnson, swear her in.We stand with Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva. pic.twitter.com/o3HkJERHwV

— Democratic Women’s Caucus (@DemWomenCaucus) October 15, 2025

While Johnson has said that the government shutdown prevents him from administering the oath to Grijalva, she and many in her party believe there’s another motive at play. During her campaign, Grijalva vowed to sign onto the House discharge petition organized by Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky that would force a vote on the release of the government’s files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The petition requires 218 signatures to move forward, and Grijalva’s promise would get the measure over the line. “If I was a Republican, I would’ve already been sworn in. And that is not acceptable. They’re afraid of me signing and being the 218th signer of the Epstein petition,” Grijalva said Tuesday.

Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, who publicly clashed with Johnson in the Capitol last week over Grijalva’s stalled swearing-in, said that the Speaker is trying to provide cover for President Trump and any of his “rich, elite friends.”

“Let’s cut to it: Speaker Johnson is protecting pedophiles. That’s what this is all about,” Gallego said, per the Arizona Republic.

Democrats have said there is a past precedent, pointing to Florida Republicans Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis, who were sworn into the House just one day after they won their special elections in April. Johnson has argued that this was a special situation, saying that the newly elected congressmen had a scheduled day for the oath and their families and friends had already made the trip to Washington, D.C.

Johnson is also receiving pushback from Arizona. Attorney General Kris Mayes is vowing legal action against Johnson if Grijalva isn’t seated. In a letter to him sent Tuesday, Mayes wrote that the state is being denied the number of representatives that it is “constitutionally entitled” to and that the Speaker and his staff have provided “ever-shifting, unsatisfactory, and sometimes absurd stories” as to why Grijalva can’t be sworn in.

“We thus demand that Ms. Grijalva be immediately sworn into office and admitted to her rightful seat. We ask that within two days of the date of this letter, you provide this Office with your assurance of when and where that will take place, which must be immediate and prior to the date the House comes back into regular session. Should you fail to provide such assurance, we will be forced to seek judicial relief to protect Arizona and the residents of its Seventh Congressional District,” Mayes wrote.

With the government shutdown officially entering its 16th day on Thursday, Johnson has shown no signs of moving on the issue of Grijalva’s swearing-in. In an interview with Fox News Wednesday, Johnson rebuffed Grijalva’s assertion that she would’ve already been seated if she were a Republican.

“I say, bless her heart. She’s a representative-elect. She doesn’t know how it works around here. We’re gonna give her the oath of office as soon as we get back to regular session. As soon as Chuck Schumer and the Democrats vote to reopen the government,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot to do here. They’re the ones holding it up. What Rep. Grijalva doesn’t understand is that there’s a certain tradition and process that we engage in here to administer the oath.”

Democrats Torch Mike Johnson for Blocking Grijalva Over the Epstein Files

Democrats Torch Mike Johnson for Blocking Grijalva Over the Epstein Files