Pressure is mounting on House Speaker Mike Johnson as Democrats demand the immediate swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election last month to succeed her late father in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. The delay, which Johnson attributes to the ongoing government shutdown, has set off a political firestorm in Washington, with accusations of partisan maneuvering, heated exchanges in Capitol hallways, and questions about the precedent being set for future transitions of power.
Adelita Grijalva, a seasoned local official and the daughter of the late Rep. Raul Grijalva, emerged victorious in the September 23, 2025, special election. Her father, a staunch progressive and influential voice on environmental policy, passed away in March after more than two decades in Congress. The district, which is predominantly Hispanic and leans heavily Democratic, saw Grijalva win handily—a result that was quickly certified, with the election canvass signed, sealed, and transmitted to the clerk of the U.S. House on October 14. According to abc15, this made Grijalva legally the district’s representative, at least on paper.
But as the halls of Congress have remained mostly empty since September 19—when the House left town after passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through November 21—Grijalva has been left waiting in the wings. With the House in recess, only brief pro forma sessions have taken place, and no legislative business has been conducted. Speaker Johnson, for his part, insists that Grijalva will be sworn in when the House reconvenes. “We will swear her in when everybody gets back,” Johnson told reporters this week, as quoted by The Associated Press.
The delay has not sat well with Grijalva or her allies. Welcomed warmly by Democratic colleagues when she visited the Capitol last month, she nevertheless felt keenly the sting of exclusion. “I think it’s great to be able to be in a room with those who will be my colleagues, but then you very quickly realize that you are not part of the club yet,” Grijalva told the Associated Press on Thursday. She voiced concern about the message being sent by the delay, adding pointedly, “The bedrock of our democracy is free, fair, unobstructed elections. And if Speaker Johnson believes this is, as I do, then he will quit toying with our democratic process and swear me in.”
Grijalva’s frustration is echoed by other Democrats, who have little formal recourse while the House is out of session but are keeping the issue in the public eye. In a rare and tense hallway encounter, Arizona’s two Democratic senators—Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego—cornered Johnson outside his office to demand action. “You just keep coming up with excuses,” Gallego said, according to reports. Johnson dismissed the confrontation as a publicity stunt, but the message was clear: patience is wearing thin.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been especially vocal in his criticism. At a press conference on October 14, Jeffries lambasted Johnson for what he described as an effort to maintain the GOP’s razor-thin majority and to avoid a potentially embarrassing vote on the release of federal files related to Jeffrey Epstein. “Republicans currently have the narrowest majority of any party since the Great Depression—the narrowest majority since 1931,” Jeffries said, as reported by multiple outlets. “As I understand it, a three-seat majority once Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is sworn in. That should be happening today, by the way. But they're running scared because of their efforts to continue to hide the Epstein files from the American people.”
The situation is further complicated by the ongoing effort from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has been working to collect enough signatures to force a vote on legislation that would require the release of the Epstein files. Massie is reportedly just one signature short of the 218 needed, and Grijalva has pledged to sign the petition as soon as she takes office—making her swearing-in a potential tipping point. “Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva should be sworn in now. It should have happened this week, should have happened last week. It needs to happen next week,” Jeffries told reporters, underscoring the urgency felt by Democrats.
Johnson, however, has flatly denied any connection between the delay and the Epstein files. “This has zero to do with Epstein,” he said during a recent appearance on C-SPAN, responding to a caller’s question about Grijalva’s status. Instead, Johnson has maintained that the timing is purely a matter of procedure, insisting that lawmakers who win special elections are typically sworn in during regular legislative business, when the full House is present to offer the customary applause and welcome. Yet critics point out that there is precedent for swearing in new members during pro forma sessions, citing the example of two Florida Republicans—Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine—who were sworn in less than 24 hours after their own special election victories earlier this year. Johnson explained that the circumstances were unique in that case, as the House had unexpectedly gone out of session and the new members’ families were already in Washington. “As a courtesy to them and their families, we went ahead and administered the oath to an empty chamber. It was no fun. They didn't get the same pomp and circumstance everybody else gets,” Johnson explained on C-SPAN. “We're going to administer the oath as soon as she gets back.”
For Grijalva, the delay has been a lesson in political realities. “If I had big money to bet, I would bet that if I were a Republican representative waiting in the wings, I would have already been sworn in by now,” she told the Associated Press. She admitted that she initially dismissed warnings from supporters that her swearing-in might be held up over the Epstein vote. “I thought, no way, he’s gonna swear me in. It’ll be fine,” she said. “Here we are two weeks later.”
Beyond the immediate partisan skirmish, the episode has raised broader questions about the functioning of the House in an era of deep polarization and narrow majorities. Jeffries, for one, linked the controversy to what he called the “myth” of a Republican mandate, arguing that the GOP’s hold on the House is owed in part to aggressive gerrymandering in states like North Carolina. “They wouldn't even be in the majority right now had North Carolina not already engaged in mid-decade, partisan gerrymandering last year—because we know North Carolina is a 50-50 state,” he said, as reported by various outlets. The suggestion is that the current standoff is just one symptom of a larger struggle over the rules and norms of American democracy.
As the days tick by and the House remains in recess, the stakes continue to grow—not only for Grijalva and her constituents, but for the balance of power in Congress and the public’s trust in the nation’s governing institutions. With the next scheduled session still days away, all eyes are on Speaker Johnson to see whether he will yield to mounting pressure or dig in his heels. Either way, the outcome will reverberate far beyond the marble corridors of Capitol Hill.
