Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-AZ, signed a discharge petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving it the needed 218 signatures.

"With my signing, we move one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to deny, but that survivors deserve their day of justice and the American people demand it," said Grijalva in a press conference with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Grijalva was sworn into office Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva.

It was one of Speaker Mike Johnson's first actions before the House began consideration of legislation to end the government shutdown.

The seating of Grijalva brings an end to a weekslong delay that she and other Democrats said was intended to prevent her signature on the Epstein petition.

Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow 219-214 Republican majority.

She will start her House tenure by voting on the Senate-passed legislation to reopen the government. Grijalva and most Democrats are expected to oppose it because it does not extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of the year. Republicans can still pass the bill with their slim majority.