CNN
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The 118th Congress, sworn in on Tuesday, will beat several records set by incoming Congress.
There are a record number of 149 women in parliament, just two more than the record set in the 117th Congress. Overall, women of color have served in her 58 seats this year, and the House alone will have a record number of both Latinx and Black women.
The new Congress also boasts the House’s first Gen Z members and the longest-running female representatives in Congress history.
Some newcomers, Republicans and Democrats alike, achieved historic firsts in their respective states, leading diverse groups to politically divided Washington.
Here’s a look at the new and returning members who are making history in each House during this session of Congress.
Alabama: Republican Katie Britt is the first woman elected to the Senate from Alabama, winning the vacant seat her former boss, Republican Senator Richard Shelby, has held for nearly 40 years.
Both of Alabama’s two previous female senators were appointed to fill the vacancies.
California: Democrat Alex Padilla won the special election for the remainder of Vice President Kamala Harris’ term and the election for the full six-year term, becoming the first Latino senator elected from California. Become. The son of Mexican immigrant parents, Padilla was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to the seat vacated when Harris became vice president.
Oklahoma: Republican Mark Wayne Mullin becomes the first Native American senator from Oklahoma in nearly 100 years and wins a special election to succeed outgoing Republican Senator Jim Inhofe. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Mullin represented the state’s second congressional district in the last Congress. Democrat Robert Owen, also a member of the Cherokee Nation, represented Oklahoma in the Senate from 1907 to 1925.
AZ-06: Juan Ciscomani becomes the first Latino Republican elected to Congress from Arizona. Born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States with his family as a child, Ciscomani previously worked in Tucson.
CA-42: Democrat Robert Garcia becomes the first LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress. Garcia, who immigrated from Lima, Peru when he was five years old in the early 1980s, is the mayor of Long Beach.
CO-08: Democrat Yadira Carabeo becomes the first Latina elected to Congress from Colorado. Carabeo, a state legislator and the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents, defeated Republican Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer to win the seat north of Denver.
FL-10: Democrat Maxwell Frost becomes the first Generation Z Representative after winning an open seat in Florida’s 10th congressional district.
The 25-year-old congressman-elect told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Nov. 9 that when President Joe Biden called to congratulate him, the president was first elected at age 29 to the Senate. He said he remembered that he was too young to be sworn in as an MP.
“He asked me if I was in the same situation. was elected at a very young age, so I understand the experience,” Frost said on “CNN This Morning.”
IL-03: Democrat Delia Ramirez becomes the first Latino elected to Congress from Illinois. She served as a state representative for the Chicago area, and the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Ramirez was also the first Guatemalan-American to serve in the Illinois legislature.
IL-17: Democrat Eric Sorensen is the first gay man elected to Congress from Illinois. Sorensen, a former Rockford and Quad Cities meteorologist, defeated Republican Esther his Joy King in the race for the succession to the retiring Democrat Chelibustos.
MI-10: Rep. John James of Michigan becomes the first black Republican elected to Congress from Michigan, winning a vacant seat in the reconstituted 10th congressional district in suburban Detroit.
MI-13: Democrat Shri Thanedar becomes the first Indian-American elected to Congress from Michigan. Senneder, who immigrated to the United States from India, was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2020 and was not nominated by the Democratic Party for governor in 2018.
NY-03: Republican George Santos won the first House election between two gay candidates in New York’s Third Congressional District. Santos, the son of Brazilian immigrants, defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman for the Long Island-based seat.
Santos entered the House of Representatives under intense scrutiny after admitting to lying about significant parts of his career, with state and federal prosecutors looking into his finances, and fellow lawmakers investigating him. I am expressing my anger at the forgery of my resume.
OH-09: Democrat Marcy Kaptor will become the longest-serving woman in Congress when she takes office in her 21st term as representative of the state’s 9th congressional district. She was first elected in 1982 and is currently the longest-serving woman in office in House history, breaking the record set by Barbara Mikluski, who represented Maryland for a combined 40 years in the House and Senate.
OR-5 and 6: Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democrat Andrea Salinas are the first two Latinos elected to Congress from Oregon.
Mexican-American Chavez Delemar will replace Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader to represent the 5th congressional district.
Salinas, whose father immigrated to the United States from Mexico, won the state’s newly created 6th congressional district.
PA-12: Democrat Summer Lee becomes the first black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh-area State Rep. Lee retires Democrat Mike Doyle.
VT: Democrat Becca Balint is the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont and the first person to come out as LGBTQ. She will replace Rep. Peter Welch, who was elected to represent the state in the Senate.
WA-03: Marie Grusenkamp Perez becomes the first Latino Democrat elected to Congress from Washington state. Her Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner whose father immigrated to the United States from Mexico, defeated Republican Joe Kent to replace Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. Herrera Beutler was the first Hispanic congressman from Washington state.
