Fifty days after winning her seat in Congress, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is poised to drop the "elect" from her title on Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected to administer the oath of office for the Arizona Democrat after the chamber returns to session this afternoon to take up a plan to reopen the government after a record shutdown.
Speaking with All Things Considered on Tuesday, Grijalva argued her support to release the Jeffrey Epstein files played a role in her wait to get seated.
"I do believe that there is absolutely a connection," Grijalva said. "That has resulted in denying representation to more than 800,000 Arizonans for the last seven weeks."
On the campaign trail, Grijalva promised to sign onto a bipartisan petition to force a vote to release the Epstein files. Hers would be the decisive 218th signature on the petition to trigger that vote — an effort that's been led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
The fight over the delay in swearing her in has galvanized Democrats, who have accused Johnson of stalling in order to put off the vote.
Johnson has rejected those accusations, recently saying he would allow a vote on the Epstein files.
He had previously said he would swear in the winner of the Arizona race as soon as they wanted, but later said he would not do so until after the government reopened. Johnson kept members away during the government shutdown. The chamber's last legislative session before Wednesday was Sept. 19.
Grijalva won her seat on Sept. 23 in a special election to represent the state's 7th Congressional District — a border district that includes parts of Tucson.
During that time, Grijalva and other Democrats worked to meet with Johnson, marching to his office and in some cases, confronting him.
"I have no staff ... The phones don't work. There's no computer," Grijalva told NPR last month. "We don't have a government email."
Grijalva told All Things Considered she "absolutely" still planned to sign the Epstein discharge petition once she is sworn in, explaining she wants "justice for the survivors and consequences for those who committed crimes against children and women."
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the delays were "unbelievable," but "those days are over." The top Democrat on the House Rules Commitee, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, said the petition could trigger the vote by early December "if all goes the way we want it to go."
Before that, one of Grijalva's first votes is expected to be on whether to reopen the government. Grijalva said she would not support the bipartisan plan passed by the Senate on Monday, saying the concessions secured by Democrats "weren't significant in making a difference for anybody who's fighting to keep their health care."
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