Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the House's newest member, paving the way
for an Epstein files vote
[November 13, 2025]
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, MATT BROWN and MEG KINNARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as the newest
member of Congress on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a
special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late
father.
Grijalva was sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday
shortly before the House returned to session to vote on a deal to fund
the federal government. After delivering a floor speech, Grijalva signed
a discharge petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files
related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving it the needed 218 signatures.
Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow
219-214 Republican majority. She vowed to continue her father’s legacy
of advocating for progressive policies on issues like environmentalism,
labor rights and tribal sovereignty.
In a speech on the House floor after being sworn in, Grijalva said it
was time for Congress “to restore a full and check and balance to this
administration.”
“We can and must do better. What is most concerning is not what this
administration has done, but what the majority of this body has failed
to do,” she said.
The seating of Grijalva brings an end to a weekslong delay that she and
other Democrats said was intended to prevent her signature on the
Epstein petition .
Johnson had refused to seat Grijalva while the chamber was out of
session, a decision that prompted condemnation from Grijalva, a lawsuit
from Arizona’s attorney general and speculation that Johnson was
delaying her induction into the House to stall a vote on whether to
require the Justice Department release documents related to the late
convicted sex trafficker.
Grijalva had said she would join the petition from Rep. Thomas Massie,
R-Ky., after taking office, giving it the 218 signatures needed. Three
Republicans have signed onto Massie's petition — Reps. Lauren Boebert of
Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of
Georgia.
President Donald Trump has been reaching out about the Epstein petition
to Boebert and Mace, according to a person familiar with the effort who
was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
A busy first day
Grijalva’s arrival kicks off a busy day on Capitol Hill as hundreds of
House members return, their trips potentially complicated by travel
delays caused by the shutdown.
Lawmakers who win special elections typically take the oath of office on
days when legislative business is conducted. But with the House out of
session since Sept. 19, Johnson had said he would swear her in when
everyone returned. He did swear in two Republican members this year when
the chamber was not in legislative session.
“I don’t think he’s thought of anything that he’s doing, in this case,
as anything personal,” Grijalva told The Associated Press in an
interview. “It feels personal because, literally, my name was attached.
I also know that if I were a Republican, I would have been sworn in
seven weeks ago.”
“We’ve been waiting for this so long that it’s still surreal,” she said.
She will start her House tenure by voting on the Senate-passed
legislation to reopen the government. Grijalva and most Democrats are
expected to oppose it because it does not extend Affordable Care Act tax
credits that expire at the end of the year. Republicans can still pass
the bill with their slim majority.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a ceremonial
swearing-in for Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., left, at the Capitol
in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
The 218th signature on an Epstein file discharge petition
Grijalva is the final necessary signature on a discharge petition
linked to legislation that would require the Justice Department to
release all unclassified documents and communications related to
Epstein and his sex trafficking operation. But her move will not
mean a vote right away, due to House rules.
Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules
Committee, said he expects voting on the Epstein bill to take place
in early December.
Emails released Wednesday from Democrats on the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee are likely to reignite interest in the
issue. Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Trump had “spent hours” at
Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a
separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls."
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to
create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” White House press
secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Leavitt and Republicans on the committee said the person in question
was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to
have sexual encounters with a number of his rich and powerful
friends. Giuffre, before she died this year, had long insisted that
Trump was not among the men who had victimized her.
Arizona’s first Latina congresswoman
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Adelita’s father, died in March after more than
two decades in the House, where he built a reputation as a staunch
progressive.
Adelita Grijalva has long been active in local politics. She served
on the Tucson Unified School District board before joining the Pima
County Board of Supervisors, where she became only the second woman
to lead the board.
She won the Sept. 23 special election with ease to complete the
remainder of her father’s term, representing a mostly Hispanic
district in which Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration
advantage over Republicans. Grijalva said the win was emotional.
“I would rather have my dad than have an office,” she said.
She told the AP that environmental justice, tribal sovereignty and
public education are among her priorities, echoing the work her
father championed.
“I know that the bar is set very high, and the expectation is high
of what we’re going to be able to do once sworn in,” she said.
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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.
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