One of the not-so-noisy narratives that Democrats tried to score political points on during the Schumer Shutdown has finally come skidding to its end--the one about Arizona's representative-elect for the 7th Congressional District, Adelita Grijalva, not being seated by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-4)--and it's another failure on their part to pull off a cheap and, in this case, deeply cynical stunt
We are just beginning to get things back to normal business in Congress on Wednesday, with a vote hopefully sometime tonight in the U.S, House to officially end the shutdown, once the revised continuing resolution speeds its way to President Trump's desk for his signature, as we wrote earlier this morning.
Breaking: Finally, the Senate Gets It Done - Funding Bill Passes and Officially Heads to the House
Readers might recall that the state of Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes filed suit against the Speaker in late Oct., for not swearing in Adelita Grijalva while the government was shut down. The same week, Dems held a raucous protest for legacy media consumption outside the Speaker's office.
BREAKING 🚨 House Democrats are STORMING Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. They look foolish
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) October 15, 2025
LMAO Democrats are so unhinged
Looks like an insurrection pic.twitter.com/v1fxCo8elw
My colleague Rusty Weiss wrote:
In short, the Dems are ticked off that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who recently won a special election in Arizona, is not being seated while the Schumer Shutdown rumbles on.
...[T]hey decided to storm Johnson's office, knowing full well he wasn't there, instead attending the Presidential Medal of Freedom award ceremony for slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk.
They marched their little clown shoes on over to Johnson's office with cell phones in hand to record the stunt, tore down a sign, and proceeded to go full Karen on the Capitol Police officer standing outside.
And Speaker Mike Johnson simply explained, in an interview a few days later, how Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D- CA-11) had done this before-after a special election, too--and you didn't see Republicans pounding on her door in front of cameras. As RedState wrote: (emphasis mine)
Pressed by the host about Grijalva's accusation, claiming it was unprecedented not being sworn, Johnson reminded everyone that something similar happened in 2020 when the Speaker of the House then was Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and no one cried a single teardrop.
"My colleague Julia Letlow from Louisiana was elected in a special election under very certain circumstances, and Nancy Pelosi, who was speaker at the time, took 25 days to administer the oath to Julia Letlow. Nobody threw a fit. Nobody engaged in a publicity stunt because Nancy Pelosi was doing that on the legislative calendar."
"I'm doing the same thing," he added. "It has nothing to do with Epstein. That's absurd. It's a moot point. The House Oversight Committee is digging into the Epstein file and putting out the documents almost in real time.
SEE: New: Speaker Johnson Faces Lawsuit Over Swearing-In Delay
As RedState noted numerous times over the past month-and-a-half-plus, the Democrats did not keep the government shuttered for good reasons. They claimed it was to prevent U.S. residents from starving or having their healthcare costs skyrocket--and it was only the GOP and Pres. Donald Trump to blame because of the mean and terrible Big Beautiful Bill.
The problem for Dems is that they always expose their game eventually. They can't help themselves. Check this out on X from the incoming congresswoman on Monday:
— Adelita Grijalva (@AdelitaForAZ) November 10, 2025
It's easier to read the Cliff's Notes version, which she also posted on Monday:
After 7 weeks of obstruction, I am planning to travel to D.C. to hopefully get sworn in. 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.
On Wed., we learned who Adelita Grijalva and the far-left running the Democrat Party invited as her guests to the swearing-in ceremony. Two Jeffrey Epstein victim-survivors. Because, of course:
Newly sworn Rep. Adelita Grijalva brought two Epstein survivors to her swearing in ceremony. She vows to sign the Epstein discharge petition immediately saying "justice cannot wait another day". pic.twitter.com/MqGyMAjoVY
— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) November 12, 2025
And indeed,Grijalva signed the Epstein petition moments after her swearing-in.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) has become the decisive 218th signatory of a discharge petition forcing a vote on a full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, moments after being sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
I won't quote the entire presentation (it would be pointless), but here's part of what she said on Wednesday evening:
.@Rep_Grijalva calls out House @SpeakerJohnson for delaying her swearing in. @AdelitaForAZ has been in congressional limbo since Sept. 24, when she won her House seat in a special election. pic.twitter.com/alaSa2q8kp
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 13, 2025
"Today is a historic day for Southern Arizona, for women, for Chicanos and Chicanas everywhere," Adelita Grijalva said. "We shattered the glass ceiling together...But this historic moment comes with a sober reality: my swearing-in was delayed by 50 days, the longest in modern history."
"And let's understand very clearly, that if I were a Republican I would not have waited this long; If I were a man, I would not have waited this long. We all know that the rules are always different for women of color and people of color--and we have to fight against that," she added.
"There is no way that this can ever happen again to anyone at all," the congresswoman stated, even though, as mentioned above, this did happen under Nancy Pelosi's gavel as Democrat Speaker with Republican members.
So, mystery solved, readers. Victim grievance, virtue signaling, and ongoing "resistance" against Orange Man Bad are the Democrats' only game going forward and through the midterms. And like the shutdown, what exactly did they accomplish with their cynical stunt here?
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Senate Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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