The most diverse House of Representatives in American history
“Among the historic class of new congresspeople who took the oath of office in the US House of Representatives on Thursday are the first Native American women, the first Muslim women, the first black women elected from Massachusetts and Connecticut, the first Hispanic women elected from Texas, and the youngest woman to be elected to Congress.
There is a former NFL linebacker, a doctor and a climate scientist. There are a number of former members of the military and intelligence services, many of them women. There are seasoned veterans of past presidential administrations and a handful of political neophytes who never held office before running for Congress in 2018.
A record 102 women were sworn into the House on Thursday, 35 of whom were elected for the first time in November in a historic wave of success for female candidates.”
This is the introduction to a piece in today’s “Guardian” newspaper celebrating the exciting diversity of the new membership of the House of Representatives.
What is not new is the Speaker of the House. Democrat Nancy Pelosi is back with the gavel. Pelosi, who had previously served as Speaker from 2007-2011, became the first former Speaker to win re-election to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.