WASHINGTON — Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was officially sworn into the House on Wednesday, 50 days after she won her special election to take her late father’s seat — the longest time a lawmaker has waited to take the oath of office.
The House convened for the first time in nearly eight weeks on Wednesday afternoon, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., administered the oath to Grijalva shortly after 4 p.m. when the chamber gaveled in. The moment marks the first time the two have met each other in person despite spending much of the last 54 days speaking about the other in political messaging.
Grijalva entered the House chamber to roaring applause from her Democratic colleagues, who later gave her a standing ovation when the swearing-in ceremony began.
Despite decisively winning her election with nearly 70% of the vote, Grijalva’s swearing-in had been consistently delayed while the House was out of session. The House adjourned on Sept. 19, and Johnson kept lawmakers out of town to keep pressure on Senate Democrats to accept the Republican-led spending resolution to reopen the government.
The House is expected to vote on that bill Wednesday evening to end the shutdown.
The delayed swearing-in has become a political flashpoint for Democrats in recent weeks as the party accused Johnson of withholding her oath of office to prevent the release of the Epstein files. Once Grijalva is sworn in, she said one of her first acts would be to sign on to a discharge petition compelling the Justice Department to release its full investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Those accusations even led to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to sue the House over allegations that Johnson was unlawfully delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in to block the release of the Epstein files and to give Republicans leverage in the ongoing shutdown fight. The lawsuit also alleged Johnson was disenfranchising thousands of voters by keeping them without congressional representation.
Johnson brushed off the legal action as a “publicity stunt,” and vowed to swear Grijalva in once the House was back in session — arguing he couldn’t do so while in recess.
With Grijalva’s entrance into the House, it will bring the chamber’s make-up to 219-214. Republicans will still have their slim two-vote majority, which won’t be altered by Grijalva’s swearing-in.