Back when I. Welcome to Horizonte.

A show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine.

Aniya.

Our newest Arizona U.S.

representative elect, Democrat Adelita Grijalva, is set to become the first Arizona Latina in Congress.

As of now, she still has not been sworn in.

Something House speaker Mike Johnson says he will not do until Congress is back in session, even though others have been sworn in while the House was in a ceremonial pro forma session.

Halva, who won a September special election to replace her father, the late Raul Grijalva, would provide the last vote needed to force a vote on the controversial Epstein files.

Joining me from Tucson to talk more about that, about making history and about continuing her father's legacy, is Congresswoman elect Adelita Grijalva.

So nice to have you here.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's a pleasure.

As much as I would love to have you in studio.

I know you have been very, very busy with this very unique situation.

Yes, it's really unprecedented.

Today marks 45 days of waiting to be sworn in.

We've broken a record.

We have indeed.

And there's so much to talk about.

I want to start by talking about the fact that you and Arizona Attorney General Chris Maes are suing Congress, asking a federal judge to allow someone other than Speaker Johnson to swear you in.

Where do things stand right now with that?

And how are you feeling about it?

Well, I don't think that any of us wanted to be in this position.

I mean, the fact that there have been many times that in many excuses that have been provided by Speaker Johnson that have all been debunked because he, as speaker has, has done some of these things, like square people in a pro forma.

You know, historically, the whole Congress in 2019 was sworn in during a shutdown.

So these are all rules that he's imposing.

And because there has been no clear explanation, no clear date on when we're going to get sworn in, Attorney General Mays and I together filed suit against the speaker.

And our hope is that he will swear me in, because I don't think the House wants the judiciary to be telling them what to do.

None of us want to be in this position again.

And what it really speaks to is the fact that we need to change the law to ensure that nobody is ever in this position of, you know, this congressional limbo that Speaker Johnson has me in.

Yes.

And Speaker Johnson has said that he will swear you in once Congress is back in session.

But you actually did show it in Washington previously ready to take the oath before the shutdown.

And he did not move forward.

So do you believe, as some Democrats have said, that this delay is connected to your promise to deliver the final vote that would force the public release of the Epstein investigation files?

I do, I do I didn't at the beginning.

I remember on election night someone said he's not going to swear you in because of those files.

And I thought, that sounds like a conspiracy theory, but here we are.

And, you know, Speaker Johnson has ended votes early, about a week before, Congress was scheduled to recess in order to avoid a vote on the missing files.

And I believe he's doing, he's taking direction from the white House.

Well, as all of this plays out, what does this mean for Southern Arizona?

How are you staying connected to the people that you were elected to represent?

And and what are you able to do right now even without actually being officially sworn in?

So essentially, I'm doing a lot of visits like I did when I was running for office, going around trying to understand how this shutdown is affecting our community.

How tariffs are affecting our economy, and looking at the continued, building of the border wall in the Santa Fe Valley and how that's impacting our, our, our environment.

I mean, public education, I mean, these are events.

I was giving out food boxes a couple days ago to federal workers.

And so trying to keep in touch and as up to date as I can for the people in our community that need an advocate.

But unfortunately, another member of Congress really put a finer point to it to say that I don't have constituents in time sworn in.

Right?

I don't have a budget.

I can't open an office.

We can't onboard staff.

I mean, there are many things that I cannot do.

And greatest of those is being able to sign onto legislation and have a budget so I can serve the constituents, in this community.

So your hands are effectively tied.

What is the response when you are out in the community and talking to the people who have elected you?

What are they saying?

Are they as frustrated as you are?

They are.

They're very angry, which, I appreciate.

And every day that this passes, I mean, day 45, I never thought we would be here.

I was in D.C.

on September 30th at a pro forma session, thinking I was going to get sworn in.

How is all of this affecting you personally?

How are you managing this roller coaster of emotions?

Yeah, well, I'm a mom of three kids and and ran a nonprofit program, was on a school board, like, kind of all at the same time.

So the sort of easy life is kind of what I, I'm sadly a little comfortable with.

This, level of frustration, though, from strangers is new.

I mean, like, I, you know, I went to an event just a little bit ago when I was on the school board.

We, did groundbreaking.

And I'm sorry, the Board of Supervisors did groundbreaking on this really cool project with a, school community garden.

And so when I go to the event, I mean, literally someone in the mic said, and, you know, I'm looking it up.

I need that.

We need to swear her.

And I started that.

That's where her.

And so this is something that people are really feeling very, passionate about because it is taxation without representation.

And that's mean 813,000 people in this community deserve to have a voice in Congress.

Well, this is that need to work.

This is unlike anything you've experienced.

But you say you are experienced in a little bit of this kind of chaos.

What about your family?

How is this motivating your family?

Because they're obviously somewhat experienced in some chaos.

But this is to a different degree.

It is like so my kids are a little freaked out sometimes.

They're like, mom, this you know, this podcaster that I watch all the time is talking about you.

I'm like, okay, yeah.

I like, you know, I'm a topic of conversation in their classrooms about our democracy and even, you know, teachers using it as a tool of critical thinking because it is something that is local and relevant, which totally makes sense to me.

But, you know, I have a daughter who she's 18, she's a freshman with the.

You were very, very involved in politics, which she got involved with my campaign and has stuck with it.

And I find it interesting that she's, you know, talking about a lot of current events and very up to date on everything that's happening.

My son is a junior in high school.

And, you know, he said, mom, my teacher was talking about you today and he wrote a paper about you and oh, that's interesting.

Am I speaking as a freshman?

And he's saying very similar things, that random strangers will come up to him and say, you know, your mom needs to get sworn in.

He's like, thanks.

I think so, too.

It is the topic of discussion.

Yes.

Everywhere.

Well, you've spoken, of course, about your late father, Congressman Grijalva, and his really passion and connection to his constituents.

What kind of advice do you think that he'd give you right now, seeing you in this moment?

Yeah.

You know, today has me hit that.

And don't let people sit you down.

You're not going to let someone walk all over you, and you have to remember who you're fighting for.

And this community deserves a fighter.

They had one for over 50 years.

Absolutely wonderful.

Wonderful.

When you are sworn in, there's so much happening in Arizona.

As I touched on from immigration sweeps to rising medical insurance costs to families at risk of losing their Snap benefits, what are the first issues that you want to take on?

Well, I'm so glad that the Democratic Party is fighting for health care.

And here in Arizona, we have 900,000 Arizonans who rely on Snap benefits.

347,000 of those are children.

So these programs cannot be targeted or part of the collateral damage when we're having these political fights.

And so those have never historically ever been on the chopping block.

But under this administration, they are it's like that the cruelty to really targeting the people that are the most vulnerable that I really I'm glad about.

We need to fight for health care.

We need to fight for, working families and the fact that so many people qualify for Snap, but are employed, yeah, many of them full time.

Like we have to look at some of those tax breaks that, billionaire corporations are getting that we're paying double, triple time for access and snap for people who are working and should be able to, get that those kind of benefits from their employer.

So those are a lot of and then, you know, when we're looking at some of the cuts that are happening, we have 140 Head Start sites and, you know, the ones that are thrown off the nation were just recently closed because of lack of federal investment.

That's over 210 children that are impacted, 37, you know, members that we really have to focus on.

What are the programs that support working families, which are public education, protecting our environment and protecting our democracy and affordability.

So those are the I mean, there are about 35, bills that I'm ready to, co-sponsor and several discharge petitions, including taking some of those emergency executive powers away from Trump.

Well, there are so many things that you have on your plate that you want to get to work on.

And you mentioned the tone happening right now in Washington.

With that tone in mind, what kind of leader do you hope to be?

I really learned very early on that servant leadership is the model that I that really resonates with me, where you're not telling people, you're not leading people by the nose.

You're working collaboratively to come up with solutions that come organically from the community.

That's the way I've been in elected office for 22 years.

It's served me very well to never act like I know everything.

I'm walking into a space where you, you know, presume to know everything is a huge mistake and it devalues people that are actually doing the work.

And so when we're talking about these opportunities that we have to really have, foundational pieces of legislation that come organically from the community, that's the work that my dad did in Environmental Justice for all, which is a bill that I want to sponsor once in office and building building blocks like that, like, you know, looking at middle school, looking at preschool, pushing legislation for working families.

As a mom of three kids, you know, I know some of the struggles that we've had and I've talked to people throughout my life, ran a juvenile diversion program for 25 years looking at criminal justice reform.

I mean, there's so many areas that I have a real deep interest in improving, and working on improving the quality of life for Americans and especially southern Arizona.

When that moment, does finally come and you're able to take that oath, you'll make history as the first Latina from Arizona in Congress.

What will that moment mean to you?

Well, by the time it happens, I'm going to say finally, you know, as you know, many people in this community elected me September 23rd.

So it's past time for me to be able to get to work.

But, you know, honestly, I was the first Latina, elected to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the first Latina to serve as chair.

You know, the first Latina in the Tucson Unified School District governing board to serve as chair.

And the number of times that I did, and I just think that it's crazy in 2025 that we're still breaking those glass ceilings.

So I want to make sure that if I am the first, I absolutely will not be the last.

Absolutely.

In positions, I think it's important for us to build our bench to to, encourage young people to get involved in our system because we have to make sure that one we protect for future generations, but encourage them to take the leads and take the reins, when, you know, we all need those leaders to, to for our community to thrive.

And when we look back on this situation, this very unique situation, how do you hope that, people will look at you and what do you what do you hope they'll say about how you handled it?

That, you know, I have heard repeatedly that I have, you know, taken it really well.

I don't know what people expect me to do, but honestly, it's like I have to take it with the silver lining and look at all of the opportunities that I've had here in district to be able to visit with people, go to events that I wouldn't be able to go to if Congress were in session.

But I want to continue to highlight that in this Congress, in four months, they've worked 19 days, and there are so many needs.

We have to be working and negotiating.

And this is crazy.

So to look back at this chaos and my hope is that I'm going to push forward legislation to ensure that nobody is ever in this position again, regardless of party, the community, elected people to serve, and they should be sworn in immediately and it's timely as possible.

I, I hope that people look at, at, you know, what we've learned from this experience to make sure that it doesn't happen to somebody else.

Absolutely.

Congresswoman elect Grijalva, thank you so much for making the time to talk with me.

I appreciate it so much.

Thank you for having me.

It's great to see you.

You, too.

Thank you.

And that's our show for others on the Arizona PBS.

I'm Catherine Anaya.

We'll see you next time at.