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Adelita Grijalva's theory on Mike Johnson's shut-down game plan [View all]
Last edited Sun Nov 9, 2025, 03:38 PM - Edit history (2)
On edit: see reply #2 for update. The discharge petition would still require 218 votes.On Friday, Omaha Steve posted an announcement for a DU ActBlue matching donation fundraiser for Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn, running in a special election in Tennessee's 7th District. The election takes place on Dec. 2nd.
Omaha Steve's post is here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20783113
The following video reports that Adelita Grijalva informed Aftyn Behn that she has word that Mike Johnson is holding off opening the House until after this election because the district is traditionally red and Johnson expects a Republican win. He plans to swear in the new Republican representative at the same time that he swears in Grijalva, in order to cancel out her vote on the Epstein files petition. However, the district was redrawn in 2021, and the margin is now much closer:
The Tennessee Lookout's Sam Stockard wrote, "The special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District seat is shaping up as a classic conservative-liberal battle that pits urban versus rural voters in a heavily red region." According to The Tennessean's Austin Hornbostel and Vivian Jones, "Tennessee’s 7th District has been represented by Republicans since 1983. But new district boundaries drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2021 moved the district into northern Nashville and added a significant Democrat population. Since redistricting, Republicans have not won more than 60% of the vote."
Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia
Given Tuesday's blow-out this election could be in play. But if Behn wins, will the House stay in recess? I suspect Johnson would keep the House in recess until after next year's election, if he can.
A brief excerpt from an interview with Aftyn Behn, where she describes the conversation with Grijalva, starts at the 3-minute mark in the video.
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