WASHINGTON — Most first-year lawmakers spend their first year or even years working on Capitol Hill in obscurity. Not Adelita Grijalva.
Even before she raised her hand to take the oath of office, the Arizona Democrat inadvertently thrust herself into the national spotlight this fall as an unlikely but unwavering voice for survivors of sexual assault.
For 50 days after Grijalva won a special election for a safe blue seat in Arizona, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, refused to take her seat while the House was absent.
Although the House was absent, Grijalva and her would-be Democratic colleagues faced Johnson in the halls of the Capitol. They argued that Johnson prevented the House from meeting to prevent Grijalva from becoming the tie-breaking 218th signature requiring a vote to release Jeffrey Epstein's files. The speaker denied that was his intention, insisting she would take her seat as soon as Democrats agreed to end the longest lockdown in US history.
The seven-week standoff kept Grijalva and the Epstein story in the headlines and helped build momentum for the near-unanimous passage of a bill that would force the Justice Department to release all of its files related to the late convicted sex offender.
Now the youngest of the 535 members of Congress is easily recognized by both reporters and Capitol staff. Colleagues refer to her only by her first name.
“Adelita showed courage and persistence in fighting to be sworn in and made it clear that she stands with survivors,” Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who co-sponsored Epstein's bill with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, told NBC News. “She deserves a lot of credit for our success.”
Johnson finally took the oath to her on November 12, and she officially took the place of her father and liberal icon, Rep. Raul Grillava, who died in March. Six days later, Epstein's bill was approved by the House and Senate.
Short and stocky, the elder Grijlava was a towering figure on Capitol Hill, serving simultaneously as chairman of the Natural Resources Committee and leading the Congressional Progressive Caucus for ten years. On the Hill, his daughter expected to follow in his footsteps, focusing on the same issues he did: education, the environment and immigration.
But the confluence of the Epstein saga and her fight for the seat has added another challenge to her portfolio: advocating for survivors.
In an interview at the Capitol, Grijalva downplayed her role in the battle over Epstein's files, instead crediting the courageous survivors who publicly told their personal stories of being a victim of sex trafficking and being abused by Epstein when they were minors.
“When we look at the situation that I'm in, it's easy to advocate for survivors and justice for them,” Grijalva told NBC News. “I didn't even have to say, 'Let me think, do I want to do this?' This is absolutely what everyone should do morally. I’m glad to join many others who have done much more work, especially the survivors.”
It's a role Grijalva, 55, a mother of three teenagers, says she feels comfortable with given her career. She worked in Pima County Juvenile Court for more than 25 years, where she managed a diversion program that provides youth with an alternative to the formal court process. She served on the Tucson Unified School District board for 20 years and on the Pima County Board of Supervisors for the last four years, the same path her father took to Washington.
In all of these positions, Grijalva said she worked with homeless children, foster children, people living in poverty, and organizations such as Center for Combating Domestic Violence in Tucson.
“Advocating for people who feel like they don't have a voice has always been something that I've really enjoyed. I think that's our responsibility. When people don't feel like they have the support or the ability… to raise their own voice, then that's part of our responsibility,” Grijalva said in an interview. “So yes, I can speak loudly.”
She and a dozen of her fellow Democrats got loud on October 14, when they marched hand in hand to the Speaker's office to demand that Johnson seat Grijalva. They repeatedly chanted “Swear her in!” and carried purple signs with the same message. Video showed them pushing past a Capitol Police officer, with Johnson accusing Democrats of “storming” his suite, but they appeared to turn back once they were denied access.
On November 18, Grijlava stood in front of the Capitol dome along with other Democratic lawmakers, sexual assault survivors and advocates for sexual assault survivors to call for unanimous passage of the Epstein Act in the House and Senate. Later that day it rented out house 427-1and then unanimously approved by the Senate. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, was the only lawmaker in both chambers to vote against it, arguing it did not do enough to protect victims' privacy.
“It felt very much like child protection advocacy work,” Grijlava said of the push to release the files. “Because they are women now, but this happened to them when they were children and they needed someone to stand up for them.”
She will continue to pursue education and climate advocacy, just as her father did. She served on the Education and Workforce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, where her father was the top Democrat, from 2015 until earlier this year.
Even though she is the daughter of a longtime congressman, Grijlava said she is still learning how to navigate the building. “I’ve never been on the Hill before. I didn't do an internship here. This is not my life experience,” she said.
The day after Johnson swore her in, Grijalva sat down for an interview along with two of Epstein's survivors, Liz Stein and Jess Michaels. NBC News' Holly Jackson asked survivors what it was like to be in the House gallery and witness Grijalva finally take the oath of office.
“Not only because of how historic a moment this was for us as a country, but also because the representative's recognition and fierceness, her courage, is so infectious to all of us,” Stein said.
“Having her confirm us in front of the entire House and Jess and I receiving a standing ovation from members when we felt at times like such unheard people in our government was absolutely transformative for me.”
