WASHINGTON, DC – This week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson after his continued refusal to swear in Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva, leaving Arizona’s 7^th District without representation in the U.S. House.

Democratic attorneys general are at the forefront of protecting our democracy—and AG Mayes’ lawsuit against the House of Representatives to ensure these 813,000 Arizona residents have lawfully mandated representation is a shining example of that work.

AG Mayes joined CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront to discuss the basis of her lawsuit and why it was so important to take action. “[Johnson is] basically thumbing his nose at 813,000 Arizonans who want to have a representative, and my state is now down a representative,” AG Mayes said. “That’s not okay. It violates the Constitution, and it violates the law.”

Key highlights from Erin Burnett OutFront:

• “Mike Johnson can end this tomorrow by swearing in Adelita in. She was duly elected by the people of Arizona, and we now have 813,000 Arizonans who are being taxed without representation in our state…”
• “We didn’t want to have to file this lawsuit, but it’s been four weeks now, Erin, since she was elected. Four weeks where she has not been able to do her job, serve We’ve got issues here including flooding in her district. She hasn’t been able to serve veterans and deal with other issues like Social Security. It’s time. Time’s up.”
• “We are hoping that this lawsuit results quickly in Adelita Grijalva being sworn in. And we’re going to a judge in Washington, DC, asking that judge to declare that […] she is eligible to be sworn in and that if Mike Johnson and the House of Representatives – run by the Republicans right now—refuse to do it, that someone else can do it.”
• “I think you can certainly infer motive[…] it just doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she has declared herself to be the final vote on the discharge petition and, for some reason, he refuses to […] swear her in, even though he swore in two Republican members under the exact same circumstances.”
• “Whatever his reasons are, they’re […] completely violative of the law, they’re illegitimate, and the law says that she must be sworn in.”

In an op-ed for MSNBC, AG Mayes gave further insight into her decision to sue, condemning Johnson’s use of Grijalva’s confirmation as a political bargaining chip.

Key Highlights from Mayes’s MSNBC:

• “…Nearly 70% of voters in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District cast their ballots for Adelita Grijalva. On Oct. 14, Arizona’s secretary of state officially certified Grijalva’s election. But despite that overwhelming mandate from the people, Rep.-elect Grijalva […] has not been sworn in or allowed to take her rightful place in the House of Representatives. Why? Because Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to do his job.”
• “Adelita Grijalva is a Democrat. Her seating would give the Democratic minority one more vote. Specifically, she would be the deciding signature on the discharge petition to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.That means Johnson’s refusal isn’t just political pettiness — it’s an attempt to prevent and delay the American public from learning the truth about one of the most prolific sexual predators in modern history.”
• “When Arizona voters from Yuma to Tucson cast their ballots, they were promised representation in the Congress. Instead, their voices have been silenced, and their votes placed on hold, by a speaker who is using them as a bargaining chip in the ongoing government shutdown.”
• “Nobody believes for one moment that if Grijalva’s Republican opponent had won, that person wouldn’t already be a sitting member of Congress. But because the voters of southern Arizona elected a Democrat, Johnson has chosen obstruction over fulfilling his duty as speaker of the House.”
• “This isn’t just an attack on the voters of Arizona’s 7th district. It’s an affront to every American who has a constitutional right to representation in Congress. Let’s be blunt: this is taxation without representation, the very injustice that sparked the American Revolution 250 years ago.”
• “Arizona will not beg for its full representation in Congress. We will not sit quietly while 813,000 Arizonans are treated as second-class citizens. Arizona’s right to full representation in Congress is not up for debate, and it is not a pawn for Johnson to use as leverage in his shutdown fight with Democrats.”
• “Adelita Grijalva won her election. The people spoke. The results were certified. The paperwork is done. The only thing missing is the oath, an oath that Speaker Johnson has no right to withhold.”
• “In a democracy every vote counts, every voice matters and every elected representative — Democrat, Republican or independent — must be seated in Congress. Right now, 813,000 Arizonans who live in the 7th Congressional District have no voice in the House of Representatives and that is an affront to the Constitution we hold dear. Until that error is rectified, Arizona will keep fighting.”
• “My message for Speaker Johnson is clear: Respect the will of the voters, seat Adelita Grijalva and let her get to work for the Arizonans who elected her.”

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