GOP’s refusal to swear in Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva is a continuation of Jan. 6 and GOP’s rejection of democracy
The GOP is anti-democracy party
More than a month ago, Adelita Grijalva easily won a special congressional election in Arizona’s District seven by nearly 70 percent. Grijalva—the daughter of the late famed member of Congress, Raúl Grijalva—is poised to make history as the first Latina to ever represent Arizona in Congress. However, standing in her way is Speaker Mike Johnson--and his contempt for democracy.
Typically, when a special election is held and the results are undisputed—like in Grijalva’s case--the winner is sworn in within days or the following week. But as of today, Speaker Johnson still refuses to swear her in despite repeated demands by Grijalva, Democratic leaders and even a recent lawsuit by Arizona’s Attorney General to compel Johnson.
Some have rightfully flagged that Johnson is doing this because once Grijalva is sworn-in, she will be the final signature needed on a discharge petition in the House to force a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. I agree that is part of why Johnson refuses to honor the will of the voters. After all, the GOP will do anything to protect Donald Trump from his connection to Epstein--which is why I’ve written that GOP stands for “Guardians of Pedophiles.”
However, there is another aspect to this that demands more attention given it warns us of a far bigger issue with today’s MAGA Republican party and what we will be confronting in 2026 and beyond. And that is their rejection of elections when they don’t agree with the results together with using any means necessary--including illegal actions and violence--to retain power.
Speaker Johnson’s history is relevant in explaining why he refuses to swear in Grijalva. He is not just an election denier, he “was the congressional architect of the effort to overturn the 2020 election” so that Trump could remain in power despite losing. Then just a rank-and-file member of Congress, Johnson sent an email to all House GOP members pressuring them to join a brief in support of Texas AG Ken Paxton’s BS lawsuit to invalidate the results in various swing states—which was later rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. Johnson even included a threat in his email plea to House Republicans saying that Trump “will be anxiously awaiting the final list” of who signs on.
And Johnson peddled Trump’s lies after the 2020 election saying there was a “a lot of merit” to claim by Trump that the election was “rigged with this [voting] software by Dominion.” He added, “the software system” used came from “Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela.” Those were lies. As was Johnson’s claim that the Georgia election in 2020 “really was rigged” because “the system is set up for massive fraud.”
And just hours after the Jan. 6 attack that Trump incited as his backup plan to remain in power, Johnson returned to the House and voted to overturn the 2020 election. All of this is why the Brennan Center for Justice wrote this about Johnson after he was elected Speaker in 2023, “Mike Johnson Is Now the Most Powerful Election Denier in Washington.”
Johnson’s contempt for democracy is a big part of why he has not hesitated to refuse to swear in Grijalva for more than 33 days depriving the 800,000 plus people in her district of a voice in Congress. In the modern history of special elections for Congress, no one has waited this long to be sworn in after winning an election—except in one case of a 35 day wait when the winning candidate personally asked for a delay because of a “family conflict.”
Even before Trump and the GOP’s assault on American democracy after the 2020 election that culminated with the Jan. 6 attack, experts on democracy were warning us that the GOP had been embracing authoritarianism. One of the brightest red flags came from a study released in October 2020-one month before the 2020 presidential election—by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
They found that the Republican Party had transformed from what would be viewed as a pro-democracy, conservative political movement into something more in line with autocratic parties. The report detailed that beginning in 2004, the Republican Party began to embrace “a dangerous lack of commitment to democratic norms” as it was shifting in an increasingly authoritarian direction. Even before the Jan. 6 attack, the V-Dem Institute—which focuses on democracy--warned that the “encouragement of violence” had “clearly increased” under Trump’s leadership of the GOP.
All of this is why the study noted point blank that by 2020, the GOP was “more similar to autocratic ruling parties such as the Turkish AKP and Fidesz in Hungary than to typical center-right governing parties in democracies such as the Conservatives in the U.K. or CDU in Germany.” In fact, they concluded that the GOP at the time “was far more illiberal than almost all other governing parties in democracies.” Yep, the Republican Party by the fall of 2020 was the most anti-democratic of any major political party in a democratic nation.
Again, that study was conducted all before Trump’s attempted coup and his Jan. 6 attack. The GOP has only become more radicalized and hostile to democracy since 2020. This is why then President Joe Biden warned in a 2022 national address to the nation that, “Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” He later added in that speech: “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people.”
We all know those words ring truer today than three years ago. The GOP is not just defying democratic norms; It’s now an anti-democracy party.
That is why Johnson can so easily refuse to swear in Grijalva. This also explains why the GOP is redistricting congressional seats mid-decade and Trump is targeting Democratic organizations like Act Blue and Indivisible for federal investigations as well as Democratic law firms.
They are openly seeking to rig elections. That is why we know that when Democrats win the seats needed to take back the House in 2026, they will try by any and every means available to retain power—legal and illegal.
Our Democratic Attorneys General and election lawyers know that we will need to be ready to rush to courts to uphold our wins. We need to prepare as well. The 2026 election cycle is here. The primary campaigns in many states are in full swing. Get involved now. The future of our democratic Republic rests in our hands.
This is not just political, it’s racist. MAGA Mike is a white christian nationalist. She is a female hispanic. That’s three strikes as far as Johnson is concerned. A female, hispanic democrat.
Just a reminder, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott refused to call a special election when Rep. Sylvester Turner (TX-18) died in March. That district has been without representation for nine months, and the Congress might have already had that extra one vote!