Demographics of 119th Congress

[ottermax]

I always find it interesting to see how the demographics of each congress change. Any fun facts to share about the new Congress and who is represented now?

I think the number of Women in the Senate has increased, not sure about the House.

Any new religious representation or ethnic representation?

[Mexican Wolf]

The number of women in the Senate remained the same by my count, at 25 (16 D to 9 R from 15 D to 1 I to 9 R before the election).

Sarah McBride is the first trans member of Congress.

Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester are both the first black people and black women to represent their states in the Senate.

[100% pro-choice no matter what]

Number of Jewish Republicans in the House of Representatives has climbed to three (Kustoff, Miller, and Craig Goldman) , which is the highest since at least the 1990s

[Torie]

And Lawler.

[Roll Roons]

And Lawler.

His district has a large Jewish population (probably the most Jewish district represented by a Republican) but he himself is Irish Catholic.

[Torie]

Color me shocked.

[ottermax]

Is Abe Hamadeh the first Syrian or Venezuelan in congress?

[Vosem]

Is Abe Hamadeh the first Syrian or Venezuelan in congress?

I believe he is the first Druze; he's definitely not the first Syrian (lots of pretty regular Americans have some Middle Eastern Christian background; for recent GOP politicians this would include Justin Amash and Mitch Daniels) and I'd be very surprised if he's the first Venezuelan (Wikipedia lists a whole bunch of Venezuelan-Americans active in politics going back to the late 19th century, but interestingly no members of Congress).

(Hamadeh identifies with no particular religion -- he answers "non-denominational" when asked -- but was apparently raised both Druze and Muslim, and in Internet writings from the late 2000s at least seemed to identify as Muslim. His tweets during the campaign in 2024 called himself someone "of Druze heritage", so he definitely identifies with that to some degree, but I don't think he identifies as Muslim any longer, or that he's a practicing Druze.)

[Storr]

Is Abe Hamadeh the first Syrian or Venezuelan in congress?

Justin Amash's mother is a Syrian Christian and Mary Rose Oakar has "Syrian ancestry".

It's interesting how of all of the Arab/Middle Easterners elected to Congress, Talib and Omar are the only ones who have been openly Muslim.

But it does look like he'll be the first member of Congress with Venezuelan ancestry (according to wikipedia, anyway): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans_in_the_United_States_Congress

[Bismarck]

Slotkin and Schiff winning keep the Jewish percentage in the senate the same as before Feinstein’s death to replace her and Ben Cardin.