Rep.-elect Grijalva says she's heard 'absolutely nothing' from the House about her swearing in

Democrat Adelita Grijalva won the special election to replace her late father in Arizona’s 7th Congressional district on Sept. 23.

And while Tuesday will mark two weeks since that victory, there are still questions about when she’ll actually be sworn in and officially take office.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had indicated that could happen this week — but that was before he canceled all votes in the chamber for the week.

Grijalva joined The Show to talk about what's next.

Full conversation

REP.-ELECT ADELITA GRIJALVA: Good morning. How are you doing?

MARK BRODIE: Doing all right. So what have you heard from the House speaker or House officials about when you might actually get sworn in at this point?

GRIJALVA: Absolutely nothing. There has been direct communication with the speaker's office and myself. Democratic leadership, through, you know, Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries and, you know, many others have been advocating for me, sending letters. But they're — having canceled all of their votes, have no indication at all as to when I might get sworn in.

BRODIE: Is it safe to say, though, that with the votes canceled for this week, that that is in all likelihood not happening this week?

GRIJALVA: I mean, the sad part is, is that there are so many questions. But right now, members are on a 48-hour notice. Which means if the speaker decides to open up on Friday, we'll get a message 48 hours before then to be ready to come to vote and that Congress will be back in session.

And he has indicated that, you know, as soon as Congress is back in session, go ahead and swear me in. But a pro forma can be held at any time, so I can be sworn in at any time. And he's — Speaker Johnson has done that.

The precedent with this speaker is that on April 1, two Republican candidates .... won their election, [Jimmy] Patronis and [Randy] Fine. And on April 2, less than 24 hours after they were elected, were sworn into office. Petronas and Fine are Republican. Rep. [James] Walkinshaw is a Democrat. [Walkinshaw] was sworn in less than 24 hours after his election.

And I am still waiting. And we are 13 days now since the election.

BRODIE: So, I know you've not, as you said, had a lot of direct conversation, if any, with the speaker's office. But do you have a sense as to why this delay is happening?

GRIJALVA: You know, I really, truly try not to be a conspiracy theorist about, you know, any of it. I think there's plausible explanations for most things.

Unfortunately, in this case, the only thing that differentiates me from the other three people that have been sworn in in specials this year is that I am the 218th signer to the discharge petitions to release the Epstein files.

And that's the only difference, because my election does not change Democrats into the majority. We'll still be in the minority. Really, the biggest issue is the fact that our community does not have constituent services. District 7 in Arizona does not have a voice that can advocate for them or stand up to them ... and be able to answer questions that are really critically important right now during a shutdown. And so our constituents are losing out because of these games that are being played with my swearing in.

BRODIE: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that, because obviously, you know, even if, for example, when your father was not able to physically be in D.C., he still had staff there to handle questions or take phone calls, answer emails from constituents on things that they needed help with.

Is that — is none of that happening for your district now with, with either his former staff or your incoming?

GRIJALVA: No, because leases were canceled and staff were dismissed. That office is closed as of Sept. 19. Memory serves, all of the computers were taken, information was wiped, cellphones, phone lines. All of that is done. Leases for offices here in the district were also closed. So, there are no services. That office does not exist anymore.

It was the people's office of CD7. And the assumption is once a new person is elected, they hire their staff, they open up offices, but none of that can occur until I am sworn in.

BRODIE: So, what are you doing right now to try to prepare for that? Because, obviously, at some point you will be sworn in, and when you do, it will most likely be coming at a very interesting time in Congress, either ending a shutdown or still in the midst of a shutdown.

GRIJALVA: Yeah, well, I mean, I've obviously identified staff that I'd like to, you know, send offer letters to and get them all set up. You know, we have identified a couple spaces for a district office, both here in Tucson and other places. And none of — no onboarding can occur until that happens. And just like when you start working in any other big organization, it's not like you snap your fingers and emails are working and everything is clicking.

We need a little bit of time, and time is of the essence right now. And we don't have any.

BRODIE: Have you been — and I assume the answer is yes, but I'll ask — have you been in communication with the minority leader's office in terms of getting you up to speed on issues that you will be confronted with once you are sworn in?

GRIJALVA: Oh, absolutely, yes. They've been incredibly helpful. So many of my colleagues have reached out, offered me space in their conference rooms, you know, that kind of thing. I mean, literally, my nameplate is on the wall at where my office will be in D.C. The one that used to be my dad's office. But the doors are locked and I have no keys.

And I can, at this point, during a shutdown, can't even get in the building because I have no official role in Congress. I have no — I have no staff, no reason to be there. And so even when I was in D.C. and they were including me in caucuses, there's a meeting later today.

I'm included in all of the chat lists for so many different configurations of our party. I'm involved in all of those. Unfortunately, I cannot get into buildings. And even when I went down in D.C., I was stuck at security and [Hakeem] Jeffries' office. Staff needed to come and get me, because I don't have any official credentials or security clearance.