#adelita-grijalva

#adelita-grijalva

A former Pima County supervisor, the 54-year-old Congresswoman-elect announced in March that she would run for the Arizona 9th District seat left open by her father Raúl Grijalva, who died following complications from his treatment for lung cancer. The elder Grijalva was a well-respected veteran politician who first joined the House in 2003 and once co-chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She went on to win both the Democratic primary and the general election in resounding fashion,

The people of Arizona's seventh congressional district a vast territory extending across the state's south, along the Mexican border have been denied representation in Congress for weeks. That's because Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, has refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva, their representative-elect, who won a special election to fill the seat vacated by her father, the late Raul Grijalva, in a landslide late last month.

Democrats have railed against Johnson for refusing to swear Grijalva in until the shutdown ends and the House returns to session, accusing him of wanting to block a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. "You just don't want her to be on the Epstein discharge petition," Gallego told Johnson, who responded that the claim is "totally absurd" and said, "You guys are experts at red herrings and distractions."

We're now five days from a government shutdown, with no negotiations between the two parties in sight. At one point, President Trump agreed to meet with Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, but then called the meeting off, saying their "unserious and ridiculous demands" meant it wouldn't accomplish anything. You'd still think that for the sake of appearances, the Republican leaders who control Congress would keep their troops in town in case of a last-minute deal to avoid a shutdown.