More than seven weeks after her landslide election victory, Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva took the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday to take the oath of office, marking the end of a bitter standoff with GOP Chairman Mike Johnson, who refused to seat her during the record government shutdown.
Johnson swore in Grijalva to applause from both sides of the aisle when the House opened Wednesday afternoon.
“Congratulations, you’re now a member of Congress,” he said.
Grijalva’s swearing-in cuts the GOP’s majority to 219-214, and just three Republican misdemeanors could kill any legislation Johnson introduces.
Grijalva’s landslide victory on Sept. 23, replacing his late father, progressive leader Rep. Raul Grijalva, generated few national headlines. But in recent weeks, Democrats have publicly clashed with Johnson — holding press conferences, holding protests and a sit-in outside his office — to try to get him to swear in Grijalva. Arizona’s attorney general sued the House of Representatives to force Johnson to act.
In her speech after being sworn in, Grijalva called herself the “proud granddaughter of a bracer” and the “proud daughter of a U.S. congressman … who has spent her life fighting for justice, fairness and dignity for the most vulnerable.”
“It’s been 50 days since the people of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District elected me to represent them, 50 days since more than 800,000 Arizonans have been left without access to the basic services every voter deserves,” Grijalva said.
“This is an abuse of power. One person should not be able to unilaterally prevent a duly elected member of Congress from being sworn in for political reasons,” she said, without naming Johnson.
US Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva during a press conference on Capitol Hill on October 21. (Al Drago/Reuters)
During the 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history, Democrats argued that Johnson refused to sit on Grijalva to prevent the release of Justice Department files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The Epstein affair has dogged President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill, as many in his MAGA base have called for greater transparency in the investigation.
Grijalva is the 218th signatory to a bipartisan discharge petition that would allow rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass Johnson and his leadership team and force a release vote. She signed the petition as her first act as a member of Congress.
That will force the House to hold a vote in the coming weeks to order the Justice Department to release all documents related to the Epstein investigation. But the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate or be signed by Trump, who has personally called on Republicans to block the discharge process.
Johnson said the delay in swearing in Grijalva had nothing to do with Epstein’s petition. The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is already investigating the Epstein matter, Johnson said, and on Wednesday released a trove of records from the government and Epstein’s estate, including a new 20,000-page package.
Johnson stood firm, using Grijalva’s swearing-in as leverage to fight the shutdown and promising to swear in the congresswoman-elect once enough Senate Democrats agree to reopen the government.
Several Democrats did, joining all but one Republican in the upper house on Monday in voting to defund the government. The House will vote later Wednesday on a package that includes three full-year federal spending cuts and extends funding for the rest of the government through January.
After Grijalva was sworn in to the House, where her father served for more than two decades, Johnson held a traditional swearing-in ceremony for Grijalva, where she posed for a photo with the new congresswoman.
When a reporter asked why it took so long for Grijalva to be sworn in, Johnson tried to play down the situation, praising the congresswoman’s father and saying she has big shoes to fill.
The elder Grijalva was chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, and Johnson said he served under his leadership on that panel.
“Look, I really like this lady. She’s going to be a great member of Congress,” Johnson said.
Raul Grijalva “was a giant here, he served for a long time, he served his country very well,” he continued. “I…admired the way he got the job done. He was persistent, so she’s a proud legacy for the family, and we’re glad to have her here.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com