Meet the freshmen class of United States Senators for the 111th congress.
13 men and women are joining this august body of legislators. All but 1 are Democrats. (You may recall in 2006 the freshmen in the Senate of the 110th congress, ushered in 11 new members with again only 1 Republican.) Demographically the Senate goes from 16% female to 17% female, from 3% Hispanic to 2% Hispanic, and remains 1% African American and 2% Asian American.
From Top to Bottom and Left to Right in Alphabetically order the new Senators are:
MarK Begich, 46, of ALASKA ~ Formerly the Mayor of Anchorage
Michael Bennet, 43, of COLORADO ~ Formerly the Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools
Roland Burris, 71, of ILLINOIS ~ Formerly the Attorney General of Illinois
Al Franken, 57, of MINNESOTA ~ Formerly syndicated radio talk show host
Kirsten Gillibrand, 42, of NEW YORK ~ Formerly Congress woman from the 24th House Seat from the state of New York
Kay Hagan, 55, of NORTH CAROLINA ~ Formerly North Carolina state Senator from the 27th senatorial district
Mike Johanns, 58, of NEBRASKA ~ Formerly the 28th United States Secretary of Agriculture
Ted Kaufman, 69, of DELAWARE ~ Formerly a longtime advisor to his predecessor, Senator Joseph Biden
Jeff Merkley, 52, of OREGON ~ Formerly the Speaker of the Oregon state House of Representatives from the 47th district
Jeanne Shaheen, 62 (as of tomorrow!), of NEW HAMPSHIRE ~ Formerly the Governor of New Hampshire
Mark Udall, 58, of COLORADO ~ Formerly Congress man from the 2nd House Seat from the state of Colorado
Tom Udall, 60, of NEW MEXICO ~ Formerly Congress man from the 3rd House Seat from the state of New Mexico
Mark Warner, 54, of VIRGINIA ~ Formerly the Governor of Virginia
While it's likely that Al Franken will be seated, it's not yet official, I believe. We've had hoofers, actors, and now a comedian in the US Senate. What next, a politician?
ReplyDeleteHey Chris!
ReplyDeleteI included Al as simply inevitable. Unlike others who have come to politics via entertainment--Senator Franken is a Harvard educated, deeply invested progressive thinker, who just happens to be funny (at times). Reagan, Sonny Bono, "The Gopher," and Fred Thompson never gave Harvard so much as a thought, let alone a hope....
p.s. So what do you think of the other freshmen members? Any thoughts about Burris?
ReplyDelete