Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says it is “unacceptable” that 800,000 Arizona residents have been without representation in the House.
PHOENIX — It has been weeks since Adelita Grijalva won the election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, and she has yet to be sworn in.
RELATED: Who is Adelita Grijalva and what is the controversy over her being sworn in to Congress?
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said a lawsuit to force her swearing-in is coming.
“We’re not messing around,” Mayes told 12News during a news conference on Tuesday morning. “The State of Arizona, as of today, is now officially without representation in the House of Representatives. We are one representative down, and that is unacceptable for our state, for 800,000 of our residents to not have a representative.”
The delay has attracted mounting attention. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said repeatedly that she will be sworn in when the House returns to session. He blames the government shutdown for the delay.
Grijalva has been active in local politics, first serving at the school board level and subsequently on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, becoming just the second woman to serve as chair.
She easily won a special election Sept. 23 to serve out the remainder of her father’s term. She will represent a mostly Hispanic district in which Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-1 ratio voter registration advantage over Republicans.
Grijalva was gracious to her soon-to-be Democratic colleagues as they welcomed her to the U.S. Capitol last month, even as she and her future staff were officially considered visitors to the building.
“I think it’s great to be able to be in a room with those who will be my colleagues, but then you very quickly realize that you are not part of the club yet,” Grijalva said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. “If I had big money to bet, I would bet that if I were a Republican representative waiting in the wings, I would have already been sworn in by now.”
She said she’s worried about the precedent that is being set by her delayed swearing-in.
“The bedrock of our democracy is free, fair, unobstructed elections,” she said. “And if Speaker Johnson believes this is, as I do, then he will quit toying with our democratic process and swear me in.”
Mayes reiterated that if Johnson does not get back to her within two days on the plans for Grijalva’s swearing in, she will be pursuing litigation.
“He’s got two days to get back to me, and then it’s highly likely that if they don’t swear her in very quickly after, I will sue them,” Mayes said.
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