Despite the landscape of politics remaining overwhelmingly white and male, the 114th Congress that convenes Tuesday, January 6th will include more women and minorities than ever before.
A record 104 women will serve in Congress, up slightly from the 100 who served at the close of the last Congress. Also, for the first time, African American members of both genders and political parties will be amongst the ranks of leading politicians on Capitol Hill, with a total of 96 racial minorities serving in either the House or the Senate.
There will be a total of 84 women who will serve in the House, compared to 80 in the last Congress. Amongst those 84 power women is Mia Love, 38, who is making history as the first black female Republican to win a seat in Congress. Love is a member of the House of Representatives from Utah’s 4th district. In addition to 84 women in the House, 44 African Americans will also hold a seat in the House. Joining Love as one of the newly added black Republicans is newcomer Will Hurd of Texas, who was named chairman of an Information Technology subcommittee on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last month.
Of the political members who will be serving in the Senate, 20 are women and two are African American, including Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey.
There are a total of 100 seats in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives, with the majority of Congress being ruled the Republicans.
SOURCE: Yahoo News