Democrat Adelita Grijalva is fighting to serve even as Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear her in

U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona should have spent the last couple of weeks moving into her late father’s office, hiring staff, and getting acclimated as a freshman congresswoman as well as addressing constituent needs for residents of her Tucson-area district.

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Instead, she’s using her own miles to fly back and forth between Arizona and Washington, D.C, and is standing outside her Capitol Hill office, quite literally, restricted from entry by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has refused to swear her in.

Without the oath of office, Grijalva has no budget, no office keys, no staff, no travel pass, and no ability to do her job. She can’t access her House email, sign on to bills, or even open a district office for constituent services.

Her father, the beloved Congressman Raúl Grijalva, died this year after more than two decades of service. Adelita, a longtime educator and local official, won the special election to fill his seat over a month ago, but the speaker’s refusal to administer the oath has frozen her work before it’s begun.

Johnson’s move has drawn condemnation from across Washington, even from some Republicans. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the delay comes just as Grijalva’s vote would secure a discharge petition, the final step needed to bring the long-stalled Epstein files release to the House floor for a vote.

In an interview, Grijalva spoke candidly about the chaos of being a congresswoman-elect without a Congress, her commitment to LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights, and her plan to make sure no elected representative is ever silenced this way again.

What follows is an edited version of an interview with Rep.-elect Grijalva

The Advocate: First, I just want to tell you how sorry I am about your dad. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him a few years back at the Democratic Club. He was such a kind man.

Adelita Grijalva: Thank you, that means a lot. It’s an honor and a deep privilege, as a daughter, to be elected to his seat. I hear from so many people who tell me the same thing you did about his kindness, and that means everything to me.

Well, as if you don’t have enough to deal with, now you have Speaker Johnson making your life hell. I know that until you’re sworn in, you can’t even open an office or get your budget or hire staff because you not only don’t have money to pay them but don’t know how much you can pay them. Then you have to figure out rent, staff, travel, everything. And then Johnson has the nerve to tell you to, essentially, to “get to work.”

It’s absurd. There’s so much I can’t do right now. You’re right; I can’t open a district office, which means constituents have nowhere to go for help. I don’t have a phone line or a budget. I can’t even order letterhead. When I’m in D.C., I have to stand in line with the public to get into the Capitol complex because technically, I am the public.

All the locks were changed before I arrived, even though the House Administration knew I was coming. The next day, someone from the chief administrative officer’s office called to ask if I “needed keys.” I thought, to what? I’m not a member yet!

I borrow a conference room from another representative when I’m in town, but I still can’t get into the building after hours. I can’t use most of the tunnels. I literally have to wait for someone to escort me in for caucus meetings.

And the hardest part is hearing from constituents, like an older woman who went to my father’s old office looking for help but couldn’t get in. It broke my heart to tell her, “I don’t have one yet.” If you call the district number, you still get my dad’s voice mail.

So when Speaker Johnson says I should “get to work,” I want to ask him, how? Should I just hand out Sen. Mark Kelly’s phone number to people who need help? It’s infuriating.

And I heard you’re using your frequent flyer miles to get back and forth from Arizona to D.C.

I am. I don’t have a travel card, so I’m flying on my miles. I mentioned it not for sympathy but to make clear that I’m not getting reimbursed for any of this. My team, people who are eager to serve their community, are using their own money to fly back and forth because I can’t pay them yet.

That’s the kind of dedication they have, and it breaks my heart that I can’t properly compensate them.

Many believe he's delaying because of the Epstein files. In fact, I talked to Rep. Ro Khanna last month, who is the cosponsor of the discharge petition, and he was anxious to get you sworn in since you were the last signature needed to put that bill on the House floor for a vote.

Honestly, I didn’t think that was the issue at first. On Election Night, someone joked, “You know he’s not going to swear you in because of those files,” and I laughed it off. I had just watched him swear in another member within 24 hours of their election.

But then, nothing. No communication. Just silence, followed by public comments and eye rolls from him whenever my name comes up. If anything, his refusal has backfired. It’s made more people wonder what’s really in those files.

So nobody has told you what’s next? You’re totally in the dark?

Completely. Every week, Speaker Johnson or one of his allies holds a perfunctory session and announces “another week of district work.” It’s all for show. He’s keeping me in limbo because he can.

Switching gears here, you’ve always been an advocate for LGBTQ+ and trans rights. Why is that advocacy so personal to you?

My parents always taught me to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves, to never be a bully, and to never tolerate bullying from others. What I see right now from our government is bullying on a massive scale.

As a woman of color, as someone who grew up in an immigrant community, I know what it feels like to be scapegoated. My father was a Bracero. I’ve had colleagues say they “can’t understand me” because of my accent. My response was, “Then get a translator, because I’m not changing.”

So yes, I’m going to keep standing up for trans rights, because trans rights are human rights. Gender-affirming care is lifesaving care. I just don’t understand why anyone would be ambivalent about that.

And honestly, I wish some of these politicians could feel, even for a day, what it’s like to have their own health care regulated. Imagine if we started policing straight men’s access to medical care or cosmetic surgery — there’d be outrage. People need to be free to love who they love and take care of themselves without government interference.

I got a kick out of Speaker Johnson blaming Zohran Mamdani for the shutdown.

Johnson is looking for anyone to blame but himself. He shut Congress down and sent everyone home days before we needed to. I was elected five days before the shutdown, and there’s absolutely no reason we should be in this situation. He points fingers at others, but there are four more pointing back at him.

So when he finally swears you in, and I hope I live to see it, what’s the first thing you’ll do, besides dusting off your desk?

The first thing I’ll do is sign the discharge petition for the Epstein files. There are several other bills I’ll join immediately, including one to remove the emergency executive powers that Trump has abused.

And I want to introduce a bill preventing this from ever happening again. No speaker, Republican or Democrat, should be able to obstruct the will of voters and hold up a member’s swearing-in. It’s dangerous and undemocratic.

That’s smart and generous of you, given what you’ve been through.

It’s about the people we represent. Good members of Congress know that constituent services are the foundation of their work. Not being able to provide that help right now is deeply frustrating.

One last question: When I spoke with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in February, she told me basically that the key to winning against Republicans, for Democrats, was to stay focused on health care. And it looks like she knew what she was talking about, because Democrats have been consistent on the health care message during the shutdown. Do you think that’s the right message?

Absolutely. Health care affects everyone. Here in Arizona, families are about to receive their [Affordable Care Act] premium letters, and many will be shocked by what they see. Some think they’re insulated because they have employer coverage, and they’re not.

When people lose access to preventive care, they end up in emergency rooms. And when hospitals stop getting reimbursed, they close. That affects all of us.

Just the other day, my daughter had a severe allergic reaction. She has a nut allergy. I used her EpiPen, then tried to refill it. The cost? $750. That’s lifesaving medication. For a lot of families, that’s impossible.

So yes, health care is the right fight. It’s the most human issue there is.

Thank you so much for such a great conversation. I know that you will make your father very proud.

Thank you, John. That means the world to me.