Rep-elect Grijalva to be sworn in, 7 weeks after special election victory

(WASHINGTON) — Speaker Mike Johnson will swear in Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva — who won a special election seven weeks ago — before the House government funding vote set for Wednesday.

Johnson has previously said he’ll swear in Grijalva — who won her special election on Sept. 23 — when the House returns for legislative session. Johnson’s office confirmed to ABC News that the swearing-in will occur before the House takes votes on Wednesday, the first time in 54 days.

The House will hold first votes as early as 4 p.m. ET on Senate-passed legislation to reopen the government, according to a notice from House Republican Whip Tom Emmer.

Grijalva’s win was four days after Johnson dismissed lawmakers following House passage of the clean continuing resolution to fund the government.

While the question has followed the speaker throughout the shutdown, Johnson has shrugged off the delay in Grijalva’s swearing-in, arguing that his decision is not about Grijalva’s intent to become the decisive signature on a discharge petition that would force a floor vote on compelling the Department of Justice to release the complete files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

The state of Arizona sued the House of Representatives over the speaker’s decision to not swear in Grijalva during the government shutdown and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed their opposition to Johnson’s decision.

Grijalva said in a statement on Monday that she is traveling back to Washington, D.C., for her swearing in and the shutdown vote.

“While I am eager to get to work, I am disappointed that one of my first votes will be on a bill that does nothing to protect working people from skyrocketing premiums, loss of health coverage, or do anything significant to rein in Trump’s abuse of power,” she said, referring to the Senate funding bill.

When could a vote on the Epstein files discharge petition occur?

Once Grijalva signs the discharge petition, a procedural maneuver to bypass House leadership on forcing floor votes on legislation, it will have reached the necessary threshold for a vote to be forced in the lower chamber. The magic number is 218 votes — a majority of the House’s 435 members. 

Grijalva is expected to sign the petition after she is sworn in.

The petition, led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, would then need to “ripen” — meaning it would receive floor consideration after seven legislative days, according to House Rules. After that, any member who signed the petition could call up the measure and notify of an intention to offer a discharge motion on the floor. 

So the earliest the House will hold a vote on the discharge petition is in early December after the chamber’s Thanksgiving recess.

Speaker Johnson has been opposed to this effort, pointing to the work being done by the House Oversight Committee on Epstein.

The committee has released thousands of records related to Epstein, provided by the Department of Justice. Some of documents released by the committee include public court filings and transcripts from his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, previously released flight logs from Epstein’s plane, already-public Bureau of Prisons communications the night of Epstein’s death and various other public court papers from Epstein’s criminal case in Florida. Maxwell has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.