For years the residents of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District have had little to no representation in Congress while the late Representative Raul Grijalva held the seat.
Now, Attorney General Kris Mayes has announced that she is suddenly concerned about the situation and is suing House Speaker Mike Johnson for delaying the swearing in of the late congressman’s daughter, representative-elect Adelita Grijalva.
The attorney general told CNN on Thursday evening that she had “lawyers downstairs right now drafting the litigation.” Mayes even said President Donald Trump bore some of the blame.
“We are not messing around and the people of the state of Arizona to be their lawyers and hired me to protect them,” said Mayes. “We’re going to do everything we can, including going to court to make sure that it happens.”
AZ AG Mayes: Time is up. I gave him two days, and he continues to refuse to swear her in. And Arizona's seventh congressional district 813,000 Arizonans are now being taxed without representation. I have lawyers downstairs right now drafting the litigation. pic.twitter.com/jjAEwSWAUE
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 16, 2025
Mayes described Johnson’s rationale for not swearing in Grijalva as “excuses.” The House speaker has stated Democrats will have to lift the government shutdown if they want their colleague to be sworn in. Johnson criticized Mayes and Arizona’s Democratic representatives and senators for pulling “publicity stunts” over Grijalva’s swearing in.
“Time is up. I gave him two days, and he continues to refuse to swear her in,” said Mayes.
Mayes has shown a sudden concern for the seventh congressional district’s lack of representation, though she was quiet when the former congressman that held the seat, Grijalva’s father Raul Grijalva, was absent for the vast majority of votes in the two sessions leading up to his death.
“Arizona’s seventh congressional district — 813,000 Arizonans — are now being taxed without representation,” said Mayes. “Those Arizonans are actively being hurt right now with his refusal to swear her in. […] We just had a flood in southern Arizona, she’s not able to help those folks, she’s not able to do other constituent services like help people with their Social Security or Veterans benefits.”
Max attendance?!? When will @TheDemocrats @RepJeffries finally call on @RepRaulGrijalva, who hasn’t shown up since the first day of the session? We, the voters of CD7, have been without representation for well over a year…like seriously, over 700 votes were missed. How are… https://t.co/51byl5Z4hq
— (((Rep.Alma Hernandez))) (@almaforarizona) February 26, 2025
The examples Mayes insisted were essential constituent services already exist elsewhere.
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does have some limitations under the ongoing government shutdown, its emergency teams continue to operate and coordinate with states, including Governor Katie Hobbs for this most recent flooding. The governor confirmed this week that emergency funding for areas that sustained natural disasters have not been affected.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have their own call lines to help constituents, and are not impacted by the government shutdown.
What’s more, the over 800,000 constituents mentioned by Mayes were effectively taxed without representation for a year under Mayes’ watch. Since this vacant seat now appears to be the fault of a Republican, however, Mayes has shown concern with filling it.
Mayes further disputed Johnson’s reason for the delay — not having Democrats lift the ongoing government shutdown — as a “legitimate” reason. The attorney general speculated that the real reason for Johnson’s delay has to do with the release of the Epstein files.
Grijalva has vowed to be the final vote needed to secure their release with limited redactions. That latter detail — the redactions — have been a point of concern for Republicans, as those opposed to the terms of that release believe it would expose victim identities.
“I can’t think of a single reason that she’s not being sworn in other than the fact that she’s likely to be the final vote on the Epstein discharge petition,” said Mayes.
The attorney general also emphasized a statistic displayed prominently by fellow Democrat, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes: that Grijalva secured 70 percent of the vote.
The unspoken metric behind that statistic, however, reveals low voter turnout for the special election. A little over 20 percent of all registered voters in the district voted in that election, and only around 15 percent of all registered voters elected her.
In order for everything to be business as usual, the bill has to be voted on. Holding the United States hostage isn’t conducting business. Nothing gets done until the Democrats understand the reason why they lost the elections. No more power for them. Each passing day only makes it more difficult to retain the seats they currently have.
It’s probably a good thing that tears can’t ruin my monitor screen. The democrats have shed a lot of the the past two weeks or so and Mayes is no different. Congress is not in session and I wouldn’t swear in that Mexican POS that still won’t represent the 800K people in the district. Just one more anti-american who might even join the “squad” and get her face out there as the idiot she really is……thanks all you idiots that voted for her.
“A little over 20 percent of all registered voters in the district voted in that election, and only around 15 percent of all registered voters elected her.”
All by design and is exactly what you get in special, and off-year elections. Just wait until you see what happens in March with the RTA redo!
The Huckster was great at doing just that.
Perhaps you should think about what you ask for. You don’t think Clinton and dozens of Dems were repeat customers? If Trump was in the frequent layer list, it would have been released or leaked years ago.