Congressional Representation is Not a Bargaining Chip

House Speaker Mike Johnson has repeatedly told reporters that he will not recall the House into session to swear in Representative–elect Adelita Grijalva of (D-AZ). But the House has held pro forma sessions during the shutdown, and Republican members elected in special elections (Florida Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine) were sworn in the day after their victories during pro forma sessions—brief meetings of either chamber held primarily to fulfill a constitutional requirement.

Grijalva won the September 23 election and will succeed her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March, after more than two decades in Congress. She defeated Republican candidate Daniel Butierez by a landslide, earning just under 69% of the vote. Grijalva is the first Latina elected to Congress in Arizona.

"I am anxious to administer the oath to her as soon as you guys vote to open the government," he told Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego. He later doubled down, saying he is "not inclined to bring the House back into session until the Senate passes the House’s continuing resolution."

The Constitution holds that when you win a Congressional election and meet the basic qualifications — age, citizenship, and residency — you are entitled to take your seat. The Supreme Court affirmed this in Powell v. McCormack (1969), when it ruled Congress could not exclude a duly elected member for reasons beyond those qualifications.

Republicans in the House, including our own Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Longboat Key) have been silent on the matter, failing both the Constitution they swore to uphold and the democratic norms that are ever so quickly eroding in 2025. Republicans hold a majority in both the House and the Senate, so it may not be immediately apparent as to why Johnson is willing to debase the institution by playing political games with the swearing in of a duly elected member.

Grijalva suspects it may be that she has long pledged that her first act upon being sworn in will be to sign the bipartisan discharge petition on the Epstein files led by Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), which would force a vote on releasing documents related to the federal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The petition currently has 217 signatures and needs her signature to reach the 218 required to trigger a floor vote. Bipartisan is a bit of a stretch as only three other Republican Reps. have signed on: Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Nancy Mace (SC), and Lauren Boebert (CO), but in today's political climate that's about as bi-partisan as it gets.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) told the Herald-Tribune this week that he would vote in favor of releasing the files if and when it comes to a floor vote. Buchanan has also remained silent on this matter. Attorney General Pam Bondi faced intense questioning on the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein-related files during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. In a heated exchange, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Bondi who had ordered FBI agents to flag any documents mentioning Trump during a review of Epstein's investigative files earlier in the year.

"I'm not going to discuss anything about that with you, senator," Bondi told Durban.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked Bondi about public reports that Epstein had shown people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women. Whitehouse asked whether the FBI had recovered such images from Epstein’s safe or premises. Bondi neither confirmed nor denied the existence of these photographs, attacking Whitehouse by falsely claiming he had taken money from billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, a former associate of Epstein's. Federal election records show Hoffman never contributed to Whitehouse.

Bondi had previously stated that thousands of hours of video related to the Jeffrey Epstein case had been discovered, but much of it contained child sex abuse material and would not be released. During a highly publicized press conference, she stated that the client list was "sitting on her desk," but attempted to clarify this during the hearing, maintaining that she had not reviewed the documents when she previously claimed they were on her desk, and that the ensuing review concluded no such list existed.

When FBI Director Kash Patel was questioned by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) about what the FBI knew during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing three weeks ago, Patel claimed there is "no credible information" that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women and underage girls to anyone besides himself. "There is no credible information, none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday."

So, the story seems to be that prolific pedophile, child-sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and the imprisoned Ghislaine Maxwell only trafficked young girls to Jeffrey. Yet, there is still some reason that most members of Congress are bending over backward to ensure the public doesn't see what is in those files. Meanwhile, the 800,000 Arizonans in Grijalva's district have no representation in the House.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch is also the author of three novels and a short story collection available here. He can be reached at editor@thebradentontimes.com.