Grijalva eyes trio of immediate priorities as she heads to Capitol Hill

Hours after her decisive win, Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva quickly ticked off a trio of initial priorities when she takes office on Capitol Hill: Helping force a House vote on the release of the Epstein files; restoring healthcare funding and reigning in President Trump’s use of tariffs.

When the Tucson Democrat will be sworn in to office to do any of it, however, still remains up in the air.

Tuesday night’s landslide win had yet to sink in, but it vaulted Grijalva into a political spotlight on a national level that is rare for freshly minted congressional lawmakers.

“No, not at all,” she replied Wednesday morning when asked if her victory collecting nearly 70% of the vote feels real. “It’s weird ... if someone would have said ‘you’re going to be a member of Congress’ I’m like, ‘stop, stop it.’ Even walking (into the campaign office) they’re like, hello Congressman.’ It’s a lot for me to wrap my head around.”

Grijalva will succeed her father, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the progressive Tucson Democrat who was in Congress for more than two decades until his death in March. The special election fills the 7th Congressional District seat for 15 months.

Despite taking a similar route to Congress as her father — moving from the Tucson Unified School District board to the county Board of Supervisors — Grijalva doesn’t see her win as succession. She intends to chart her own path in Congress while carrying his progressive influences.

“You look at the people who worked with my dad, it was across the aisle. People that knew him, respected him. They didn’t always agree with him, and he could be very aggressive for the issues that he cared about, but he didn’t make them personal with the other members,” she told the Star. “Right now, we’re in an environment where everything becomes like a personal attack. And really, what I’m going to focus on is like, these are the issues it’s personal to the people that it’s affecting in our communities.

“I’m going to be very passionate about those issues, but I’m not going to be disrespectful, because ultimately I have to look my kids in the eye, I have to look myself in the mirror. I don’t plan on going to D.C. to lose myself,” Grijalva said. “I’m not going to get personal, I’m not going to play gotcha, I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do, because I just think that’s the best way to move forward. And if we disagree on this issue, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on every issue ... But you know, there also has to be some acknowledgement that there are incredible abuses happening throughout our communities, and someone needs to stand up for them.”

Grijalva’s win gives the Democrats 214 seats in the House, to the GOP’s 219. Two additional seats, one in Texas formerly held by a Democrat and one in Tennessee formerly by a Republican, means Republicans’ House majority could slim even further.

On Wednesday, Grijalva says she would prefer a spot on the Education and Workforce Committee or the Natural Resources Committee, to which her father belonged. Grijalva says she got the impression she’ll be on one of those two, but a spot on the House Oversight Committee has come up as a possibility.

The Epstein Files

Grijalva’s win could bring the required 218th signature to Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s attempt to push for a vote on the House floor to force the U.S. Department of Justice to release its files on the convicted child sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The discharge petition, filed earlier this month by the Kentucky Republican Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, needs 218 votes to force the House vote. Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw’s special election win in Virginia made it 217 earlier this month.

Grijalva signing onto the petition will force a vote on the House floor on Massie’s bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The resolution would require the DOJ to “disclose all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in its possession that relate to Epstein” or Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, who was convicted in 2021 of luring underage girls to be sexually abused by the politically well-connected financier. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019.

Grijalva previously told the Star that if elected, she would sign on. She reiterated that Wednesday following her win, saying it would be a Day 1 priority as a member of Congress.

How soon that could happen is still unknown. The results of the special election still need to be certified, and Grijalva can’t get sworn in until House leadership calls votes. Right now, that’s not scheduled until Oct. 7.

Since Congress needs to agree on how to fund the government by Oct. 1, the timing of the House leadership calling votes “essentially guarantees” a government shutdown, Grijalva said.

The federal government’s Oct. 1 start date for its fiscal year means Congress and the White House have to strike some form of compromise to prevent a partial government shutdown on that date.

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Healthcare funding

Democratic leadership have accused Republicans of not negotiating with them to address priorities on health care as part of the funding measure. Republicans counter that Democrats are making demands that would not only dramatically increase spending, but are not germane to the core issue of keeping agencies fully operational for a short period of time while negotiations continue on a full-year spending package, the Associated Press has reported.

Along with House Democrats, Grijalva says she plans to be in Washington starting Monday despite not having votes that day. She calls healthcare spending an issue where Congress “could all convalesce around and understand.”

It’s the one issue where “the push needs to happen,” Grijalva said.

“We have people that are fearful of what the cuts are going to meet people that are living in assisted living facilities, rehab facilities, children that are getting their occupational therapy, speech therapy, all at school,” she said. “When those cuts happen, we’re going to have devastating effects throughout our communities, and so it is the one area I think that leadership is hoping is universal. Everyone understands the need ... Our communities want to see us fighting for them, and not just signing off to avoid some sort of potential shutdown, as we saw a couple of months ago,”

But a government shutdown is not a worthwhile bargaining chip for Congressional Democrats, Grijalva said.

“It’s horrible, and that’s why the Democrats are showing up on Monday,” she said. “We don’t have votes (that day), but we’re going to show up to say we are ready to work. We are all here, where are you? And I believe that, overwhelmingly when I’ve talked to people, they just want to see us fighting for them.”

Tariffs and the economy

Grijalva says the economy is another top priority.

Particularly, clawing tariff authority away from President Donald Trump and back into the hands of Congress.

While the authority to impose tariffs rests in Congress, President Donald Trump has flexed emergency powers to impose — or threaten to impose — tariffs on over 90 countries since taking office in January.

Grijalva says economic issues should be one that can cross party lines.

Trump’s tariffs will affect everyone if they haven’t already, Grijalva said, from working-class Americans to billionaires, and from small businesses to mega corporations.

“I feel like we have opportunities, we’re seeing it with this Epstein file release ... When you see town halls of people that overwhelmingly voted for Trump, screaming at their representatives saying ‘that’s not what I sent you to Congress to do,’ I think that’s the tipping point, “ she said. “That’s what’s happening throughout our nation.”

“Part of the problem is (Trump) is using (tariffs) like a bat ... what he’s hearing, I think, is from his billionaire buddies that it’s impacting their business, impacting the ability to be able to build those skyscrapers. He’s hearing from farmers and cattle ranchers. It’s across the board.

“It’s those issues that (voters) don’t feel they’re heard either, because not only did he decimate departments that responded to education and clean air and water, but he is dismantling protections and processes for people to be able to get basic services through, and that’s what’s really hurting a lot of businesses,” Grijalva said.

“I don’t think there was a lot of thought put into that ... now we’re dealing with the ramifications.”