Rolling Stone reports:

Adelita Grijalva made history last week, becoming the first Latina woman elected to represent Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives. She won a special election for the seat previously occupied by her father, Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March after serving over two decades in office.

Despite a blowout, uncontested victory — and a precedent of swearing in the winners of special elections almost immediately after their elections — Grijalva still has no idea when she might become an official member of the House.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has yet to set a date for Grijalva’s swearing in ceremony, and the delay is raising eyebrows. Grijalva has indicated she will sign a discharge petition that would force a floor vote to release government documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case as soon as she’s sworn in. Her signature would put the petition over the 218-vote threshold needed to override Republican leadership’s attempts to kill any vote to release the Epstein files.

To delay her swearing in would further delay the advancement of the petition, and give Republican leadership addition time to apply pressure to the Republican representatives — Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Co.), and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) — who support it.

“I can’t see another reason,” Grijalva tells Rolling Stone. “It doesn’t change the majority, Democrats are still in the minority. That seems to be the only outstanding issue that I can see. It feels a little personal.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Speaker Johnson’s office indicated that “as is standard practice, with the House now having received the appropriate paperwork from the state, the Speaker’s Office intends to schedule a swearing in for the Representative-elect when the House returns to session.”

The House’s return to session was delayed by Johnson last week, pushing it to Oct. 7, over two weeks after Grijalva won her election. Precedent establishes that in an uncontested election, there is no procedural rule barring a representative-elect from being sworn in during a pro-forma session. In April, Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine — both Republicans representing Florida — were sworn in by Johnson during a pro-forma session the day after their special elections. In September, Johnson swore in Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) less than 24 hours after Walkinshaw won his special election.

“For me, apparently there are new requirements,” Grijalva says. “It’s very frustrating on my end. We’re starting up a new office, trying to hire staff, get all set up. Our community has not had a representative be able to vote for them for a very long time.” [Continue reading…]