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Both told the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV on Friday that if they are elected on Sept. 23, they will sign on 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.

Grijalva said if elected, she “would sign on to the discharge petition.�

Butierez said he would “absolutely� sign onto the bipartisan discharge petition if elected.

The discharge petition, filed earlier this month by Kentucky Republican Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, needs 218 votes to force the House vote.

Either Grijalva or Butierez could provide the final, 218th vote if elected.

That would force a vote on the House floor on Massie’s bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The 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.

On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw, who won a special election in Virginia the day before, signed the petition, bringing the total votes to 217, .

As of Friday, just four of the 219 Republican representatives have signed onto the bipartisan effort, including Massie. The other three are Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Butierez said he doesn’t know why more haven’t, saying Friday that “I would think they would all sign it because it’s what the people want.�

Republican President Donald Trump, a former friend of Epstein’s until they had a falling out before Epstein was charged with sexual abuse, signaled as he was running for president that he was open to releasing a full accounting of the Epstein case, but is now trying to dismiss the push as a “Democrat hoax,� the Associated Press has reported.

Grijalva and Butierez’s position on releasing the files is one of the few instances where they have not been diametrically opposed on an issue, be it national or local. The two are facing off in a special election to replace the late Tucson Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva.

During their Aug. 26 debate in Tucson, both Adelita Grijalva and Butierez said the U.S. needs to continue supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. But the two have little in common when it comes to other foreign policy issues, such as the U.S.’s continuing support for Israel or the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in June.

After the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in June, Grijalva said it should have been Congress to make the decision, calling Trump’s “unilateral actions unconstitutional.� Butierez, while happy at first to hear of the bombing when news first broke, soon became concerned after learning his daughter, on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, was nearly deployed to the region. He said the bombing “kind of touches home when you realize what it could involve,� but that he was nevertheless supportive of the U.S. action.

The only other topic where the two are firmly in agreement is Project Blue, the proposed data-center project near Tucson that enraged a large group of Tucsonans over the summer. Annexing land for the project and talks on its development within city limits were rejected by the Tucson City Council in August.

Both Grijalva and Butierez have said the project’s massive water and power consumption projections, as well as the secrecy around it and the use of nondisclosure agreements by local governments, turned them away from supporting it.