Arizona's attorney general has sued to force Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to swear in Adelita Grijalva, the Democrat who won a special congressional election in September.

Grijalva was elected on September 23 to the southern Arizona district that her father, Raul Grijalva, held until his death earlier this year.

Kris Mayes, Arizona's Democratic attorney general, had promised to sue if Johnson didn't allow Grijalva to begin his job. On October 14, she sent Johnson a letter demanding that he schedule a swearing-in within two days, which didn't happen.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has said he will give Grijalva a seat once Senate Democrats agree to reopen the government. However, the two parties have not communicated for weeks, and there is no indication of when the government shutdown might end.

The lawsuit argues that the House speaker's delay deprives the 813,000 residents of Arizona's 7th District of representation in Congress.

The lawsuit lists the state of Arizona and Grijalva herself as plaintiffs, and the US House of Representatives, as well as the clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms, as defendants.

“By preventing Adelita Grijalva from taking the oath of office, [Johnson] is subjecting Arizona's 7th District to taxation without representation. I will not allow Arizonans to be silenced or treated as second-class citizens in their own democracy,” Mayes said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.

Grijalva, who has held local offices in Arizona for decades, traveled to Washington in early October expecting to be sworn in her position and begin her new job.

So far, Johnson has refused to schedule a swearing-in for her, preventing her from using his office or accessing parts of the Capitol designated for members of Congress without an escort.

“I want to go to work and I can't,” Grijalva said in early October.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y.,and other Democrats have argued that Johnson is delaying Grijalva's appointment because she represents the 218th and final signature on a release petition needed to force a House vote to compel the Justice Department to release all of its files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.