New faces: 7 lawmakers to follow as Congress convenes
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Caitlin Babcock Staff writer
| Washington
The 119th Congress launching Friday has Republicans controlling both the House and Senate for the first time since 2019. Many Republicans are coming to Washington excited to carry out President-elect Donald Trump's agenda. Meanwhile, Democrats are wrestling with how to define themselves in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat.
But it’s not just party allegiance that will shape the new Congress. Each member’s background and identity will help define legislative trends for the next two years.
Why We Wrote This
A mélange of new members will join the 119th Congress. Here are seven who are poised to make their mark – and who symbolize larger political forces that will shape the legislative branch.
Among the incoming lawmakers are those who are deeply tied to the Make America Great Again movement. Others are making history for their gender or racial identities. Some are promising to restore more civility to politics.
Our story highlights seven incoming members who reflect the diverse priorities of the new Congress. They include Addison McDowell of North Carolina, a young ardent Trump supporter; Kristen McDonald Rivet of Michigan, a Democratic voice for pocketbook issues; and the first pair of Black women to serve in the U.S. Senate simultaneously – Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
The 119th Congress launching Friday has Republicans controlling both the House and Senate for the first time since 2019. Many Republicans are coming to Washington excited to carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. Meanwhile, Democrats are wrestling with how to define themselves in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat.
But it’s not just party allegiance that will shape the new Congress. Each member’s background and identity will help define legislative trends for the next two years.
Here are seven incoming lawmakers to watch, reflecting the competing ideologies and priorities of members of the new session:
Why We Wrote This
A mélange of new members will join the 119th Congress. Here are seven who are poised to make their mark – and who symbolize larger political forces that will shape the legislative branch.
Addison McDowell, North Carolina
North Carolina Republican Addison McDowell, incoming member of the House, was endorsed by Donald Trump and campaigned with Donald Trump Jr. He plans to spend his time in Congress working to advance Mr. Trump’s agenda.
He joins other freshman Republicans – notably Brandon Gill of Texas, Brian Jack of Georgia, and Riley Moore of West Virginia – who are staunch advocates of Mr. Trump’s “America First” policies. All four are young relative to the average age of their colleagues, with 30-year-old Mr. Gill and nearly 31-year-old Mr. McDowell set to be the second- and third-youngest members, respectively, of the next Congress.
While these freshmen haven’t formed an official coalition, Mr. Jack told the Washington Examiner they became “fast friends” during the Republican National Convention last summer. Their friendship is drawing comparisons to the Democratic “Squad” in the House of Representatives, a progressive coalition made up of young, mostly female House Democrats. That contrast reflects a broader political divide around age and gender. Mr. Trump improved his margins with young men in this past election, and the gender gap between men and women under 30 outranked the divide for all other age groups.
Kristen McDonald Rivet, Michigan
In November 2024, voters in Kristen McDonald Rivet’s Michigan district supported Donald Trump. But they also elected her – a Democrat – for the U.S. House by almost seven points. She says she pulled off this win by focusing on voters’ basic needs. In a postelection interview with The New York Times, Ms. McDonald Rivet said her campaign focused “continuously – almost exclusively – on pocketbook issues.”
In the wake of the election, Democrats have offered a bevy of different theories as to how, if at all, the party should adjust its messaging after Vice President Harris’ defeat. Ms. McDonald Rivet joins moderate voices who believe the party must do a better job of listening to rural and working-class voters. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Washington Democrat who also won in a rural, conservative district, told the Times that “the fundamental mistake people make is condescension.”
Jeff Hurd, Colorado
Jeff Hurd beat the Democrat who was supposed to beat Rep. Lauren Boebert. Colorado Democrat Adam Frisch had been amassing money after losing to Ms. Boebert by fewer than 600 votes in 2022. But at the end of 2023, Ms. Boebert suddenly switched congressional districts, going on to win her race. That opened the field for Mr. Hurd, a Republican, who won in spite of Mr. Frisch’s significant fundraising advantage.
However, his campaign displayed a very different style from that of Ms. Boebert. While she is known for provocations, including an incident in which she was kicked out of a theater for disruptive behavior, Mr. Hurd’s campaign website said the district’s leader should be focused on “avoiding the angry and cynical kind of politics that wears people down.”
Since winning, Mr. Hurd has said he will advocate for similar priorities as Ms. Boebert. However, he has also said he wants to wait and see what some of Mr. Trump’s specific policy plans will be before committing to them – a contrast with Ms. Boebert’s full-throated support of the president-elect.
Sarah McBride, Delaware
Democrat Sarah McBride says she didn’t come to Washington to pick a fight. The first openly transgender member of Congress got one anyway. Less than two weeks after Ms. McBride won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a resolution requiring members to use bathrooms “corresponding to their biological sex” – which would prohibit Ms. McBride from using the women’s restroom at the Capitol.
Days later, Speaker Mike Johnson made this a House policy. In a response posted online, Ms. McBride said she would follow Mr. Johnson’s rules, saying, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans.”
Her response garnered respect from many of her colleagues, but also angered some on the left, who had hoped the congresswoman would use her platform to advocate for the transgender community. Ms. McBride’s election comes as the question of transgender policy is flooding political discourse. Mr. Trump made it a central part of his campaign.
Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware
For the first time in history, the U.S. Senate will have two Black women serving simultaneously – Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. Ms. Alsobrooks was mentored by another groundbreaking woman of color – Kamala Harris, whom she calls her “quintessential big sister.” Similarly to Ms. Harris, Ms. Alsobrooks downplayed race and gender in her campaign, saying her working-class background is what would make her election historic if she won.
Others have been more vocal about the impact of this new diversity in the Senate. The Congressional Black Caucus highlighted Ms. Alsobrooks and Ms. Blunt Rochester in a recent memo, naming them in a list of “historic victories.” The caucus, which both women are expected to join, seems poised to be a loud voice opposing key parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda in the next few years. One prominent member, Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, described the caucus to NBC in November as “the conscience of the Congress, and that’s no matter who’s in charge.”
Tim Sheehy, Montana
Republican and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy flipped a Montana seat in a close race with Democrat Sen. Jon Tester. Veterans issues were core to his campaign – he said failures in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan inspired him to run.
He criticized what he sees as the lack of military experience in Congress. “It’s not disconnected that we have minimal veteran representation across all of our government ... and we have some of our greatest military disasters, back-to-back-to-back-to-back,” Mr. Sheehy said last August.
The number of veterans in Congress has dropped steeply since the Vietnam War, but has seen a slow uptick in recent years – from 92 members in 2021 to 100 this year. Mr. Sheehy will assume a seat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which his Democratic predecessor served on in the last Congress.
