General Discussion

All the Arizonan has to do is wait for the chamber to return from its current break, at which point she can take the oath of office. With that outcome hanging in the balance, The Arizona Republic reported:

Democrat Adelita Grijalva has for months been on a glide path to become Arizona’s next member of Congress. But now that she’s been elected, as the U.S. House stares down a government funding standoff and a bombshell measure related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a political fight is brewing around when exactly Grijalva will be sworn in.

At the heart of the matter is a question about how best to deal with routine electoral bureaucracy.

In theory, Grijalva could be sworn in as Congress’ newest member on Oct. 7, the day members get back to work. This would be consistent with standard practice, including recent developments with Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia, who was declared the unofficial winner of his special election and was sworn days later......

The House speaker’s office hasn’t elaborated on its plans, saying only that the chamber would wait for the “appropriate paperwork.” But as a practical matter, Congress has already received the appropriate paperwork: Arizona Secretary of State’s Office notified the House clerk last week that Grijalva is the unofficial election winner based on the lopsided results.

Under standard practices, that should be plenty. “This documentation has been sufficient to swear in multiple members of Congress,” a spokesperson for the Democrats on the House Administration Committee told the Arizona Republic.

Will the Speaker’s Office agree? Is there a reason Johnson is being coy about this? Watch this space.