Members of the 111th United States Congress

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may need to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. (March 2009)

The 111th United States Congress consists of 541 elected officials from 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia. It is the federal legislature of the United States of America, continuing an unbroken chain dating back to the 1st Congress in 1789.

The Senate has 100 members; the House of Representatives has 435 members and six non-voting delegates.

Contents 1 Demographics 1.1 Religious demographics 1.2 Gender 1.3 Sexual orientation 1.4 Occupational background 1.5 Military service 1.6 Race/ethnicity 1.6.1 African Americans 1.6.2 Hispanic Americans 1.6.3 Asian and Pacific Islander Americans 1.6.4 Jewish Americans 1.6.5 Native Americans 1.6.6 Middle Eastern Americans 1.6.7 Foreign-born Americans 2 Elections 3 References 4 Senate 5 House of Representatives 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Demographics

In the Senate, there are 17 women:

• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Kay Hagan (D-NC)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
• Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
• Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
• Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
• Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
• Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
• Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
• Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

There are 14 Jews, two Hispanics (Mel Martinez, R-FL and Bob Menendez, D-NJ) one Japanese American (Daniel Inouye, D-HI), one Native Hawaiian (Daniel Akaka, D-HI) and one African American, Roland Burris (D-IL). The average age of senators in 2007 is 62 years.^{[citation needed]} The oldest senator is President pro tempore Robert Byrd (D-WV), born in 1917; the youngest is Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), born in 1966.

The 111th Congress includes the most religiously-diverse House in history, including two Muslims (Keith Ellison, D-MN and André Carson, D-IN), two Buddhists (Mazie Hirono, D-HI and Hank Johnson, D-GA), 31 Jews, one Quaker (Rush D. Holt, Jr., D-NJ) and one atheist (Pete Stark, D-CA). There are 42 African Americans (including two non-voting delegates) and 75 female representatives. There are also 27 Hispanics, five Asian Americans (Joseph Cao, R-LA; Mazie Hirono, D-HI; Michael Honda, D-CA; Doris Matsui, D-CA; and David Wu, D-OR), and one Native American (Tom Cole, R-OK). There are three openly gay members (Tammy Baldwin, D-WI; Barney Frank, D-MA; Jared Polis, D-CO).

[edit] Religious demographics

As of June 2008, the top five denominations in the Congress are Roman Catholic (29.3%), Baptist (11.1%), Methodist (10.2%), Jewish (7.8%), and Presbyterian (7.6%). Protestant denominations have held a large majority throughout congressional history, reflecting American's traditional demographics. 58.0% of seats are currently held by members of Protestant denominations. Catholics have also been in Congress from the beginning and have seen continuous representation since then. Charles Carroll was in the Continental Congress and was appointed to the Senate in 1789. Daniel Carroll of Maryland and Thomas Fitzsimons of Pennsylvania were Catholics in the first session of the House of Representatives. Gabriel Richard became the first Catholic priest in Congress in 1823. Quakers have also served in Congress since its inception, with Philemon Dickinson in the Senate and a pair of House members in Lambert Cadwalader and John Hathorn. Quaker representation has not been continuous, and only one member of the current Congress belongs to the group, Representative Rush Holt.

In 1844, Lewis Charles Levin became the first Jew to be elected to Congress. In 1845, David Levy Yulee became the first Jewish member of the Senate, although he later converted to Christianity. Jews have been continuously represented in the House since the election of Isidor Rayner in 1887. Since the election of Herbert Lehman to the Senate in 1948, the upper house has also contained at least one Jewish member. A record 45 Jews currently serve in Congress.

Not until 1966 was a member of an Orthodox faith elected to Congress. Nick Galifianakis became the first member of this group to serve in the legislature. In 1977, Paul Sarbanes became the first US Senator of Orthodox beliefs. This group, despite having a relatively small number of adherents, has been continuously represented in both houses since the intitial elections. Senator Olympia Snowe, as well as Representatives John Sarbanes, Zack Space, Gus Bilirakis, and Niki Tsongas are current members of Congress that follow Greek Orthodoxy, while Representative Melissa Bean adheres to Serbian Orthodoxy.

Dalip Singh Saund, who was elected in 1956 and served until 1963, was the first, and so far only, Sikh in Congress.^[1] In 2007, Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first practicing Muslim to become a member of the United States Congress; he was joined by André Carson of Indiana following a special election on 11 March 2008. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Hank Johnson of Georgia became the first two Buddhists to be elected to the United States Congress on November 7, 2006. Johnson is a member of the Soka Gakkai sect, and Hirono (albeit non practicing) is a member of the Jodo Shinshu sect.

Members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have been in Congress since Utah was established as a territory in 1851. Delegate John Milton Bernhisel became the first Mormon in Congress that same year. When Utah received statehood in 1896, Clarence Emir Allen became the first representative of a state that practiced the Mormon faith, and since then Mormons have had continuous representation in the lower House. Frank J. Cannon became the first Latter-day Saint member of the Senate, also in 1896. However, after he left office the next year, Mormons did not return to the Senate until 1905, when George Sutherland started a string of continuous representation for the group. Currently eleven representatives and five senators are part of this religious group.

Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Congressmen Walter Minnick (D-Idaho) and Pete Stark (D-California) are three Unitarian Universalists currently serving in Congress. In a response to a March 2007 survey from the Secular Coalition for America, Rep. Stark became the only publicly-stated atheist in the history of Congress.^[2]

Numerous members of Congress throughout history have also declined to list an official religion, including 10 current representatives.

[edit] Gender

and Women in the United States House of Representatives

As of 2009, 441 members of Congress are male (83%) and 92 are female (17%).^[3] The global average for female representation at the parliamentary level in 2007 was 17.0%.^[4]

Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress, in 1916. Women could not vote or be elected in most of the United States until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Rebecca Felton was the first woman to become a Senator in 1922, serving for a brief two-day period when she was appointed to fill a vacancy left by Georgia Senator Thomas E. Watson. The first woman to win a race for Senate was Hattie Caraway, who won a special election in January 1932 to fulfill her late husband's Senate term of office. Caraway subsequently won the scheduled November 1932 election, eventually serving two more full terms.

In the early days following the legalization of national women's suffrage, most women elected to Congress were chosen as replacements for deceased husbands. Prior to the 1960s, most female members of Congress were either involved in this process of "widow's succession" or were members of influential political families. Elected to the House in 1965, Patsy Mink became the first non-white woman to enter Congress (she was of Japanese American heritage). Until 1992, a year that saw the election of four new female senators, the US Senate had never had more than three women serving at a time. Nancy Pelosi became the first female leader of a major party when she took over the position of House Minority Leader in 2002, and she is currently (since 2007) the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.

In the 111th United States Congress, there are 75 women serving the U.S. House and 17 in the U.S. Senate, which is the highest number of women to hold Congressional office.^[5]

[edit] Sexual orientation

There have been six openly gay members in the history of Congress. Gerry Studds (elected in 1972) became the first openly gay man when he acknowledged his homosexuality in 1983.^[6] Barney Frank (elected in 1980) first spoke publicly about his sexual orientation in 1987.^[7] Steve Gunderson, elected in 1980 and outed in 1994,^[8] and Jim Kolbe, elected in 1984 and outed in 1996,^[9] are two other previous members of Congress that were openly gay. Current congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is the first and so far only open lesbian woman to win election to Congress.^[10] In 1998, she became the first ever openly gay person to win election to Congress as a non-incumbent. Former California representative Michael Huffington is bisexual, but did not come out until after his term had ended.^[11] Republican Representative David Dreier of California, former Chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, has been identified as homosexual and romatically linked to his Chief of Staff Brad Smith. Dreier has neither affirmed not denied his sexuality or the nature of the relationship and has come under increasing attacks from the left for his consistent voting record against GLBT civil rights issues.^[12] Jared Polis (who was elected in 2008 and assumed office on January 6, 2009) is the first openly gay man to have been elected to the House as a freshman.

[edit] Occupational background

Members of Congress come from a variety of occupational backgrounds:

• 215 members (159 Representatives and 68 Senators) have worked in some aspect of law during their career, whether working as an attorney at law, paralegal, policy analyst, or bureaucratic officials. Of the 215, 180 Representatives and 58 Senators hold Juris Doctor degrees
• 189 members (162 Representatives and 26 Senators) have worked in some segment of private sector business, with 18 members holding Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees.
• 109 members have served as political aides at some level; 16 have worked as members of the White House staff, while ten were congressional pages and
• 96 members (82 Representatives and 14 Senators) have worked as educators, including teacher, professors, and school administrators
• 24 members have worked in the medical field, including 12 medical doctors, three nurses, two dentists, two veterinarians, one psychologist, one psychiatrist, one optometrist, and one pharmacist.
• 15 members are former law enforcement professionals, including five sheriffs, four police officers, two state troopers, two probation officers, one FBI special agent, and one Border Patrol agent
• Nine members are scientists, including four chemists, three physicists, one biologist, and one biomedical engineer
• Six members are ordained ministers
• Five members are Certified Public Accountants

Several members of Congress were nationally famous prior to entering politics, namely Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Senator Jim Bunning, and National Football League quarterback Representative Heath Shuler. Other congressmen have held a variety of jobs ranging from social worker to mortician to riverboat captain.

[edit] Military service

A number of members of Congress have served in the U.S. military, with some being combat veterans. The percentage of veterans has decreased over time. In the 108th Congress, the number of veterans compared to that of the 107th Congress was reduced by 14, leaving 153 members of Congress who have served some form of military service.^[13] In the most recent previous 110th Congress, the number of veterans had been reduced to 126. Keeping with the previous trends the 111th Congress has five less veterans, now at 121.^[14] Some are currently still serving as reservists.

Among the most notable is Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), a combat veteran of World War II. As a captain in the United States Army, he served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment and is the only Senator to have been awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during that conflict. Another Senator, Jim Webb (D-VA), is a decorated Vietnam veteran, and served as Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan Administration. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) served in Vietnam as a naval aviator. During his 23rd bombing mission over Vietnam on October 23, 1967, McCain was shot down by a missile over Hanoi. He was held as a prisoner of war and subject to extreme physical and mental torture. Senator McCain was released on March 14, 1973.

[edit] Race/ethnicity

[edit] African Americans

African Americans currently make up about 13% of the US population, but have historically been underrepresented in Congress. Currently 42 members (9.5%) of the House are black. As of 2009 there is only one African-American currently serving in the Senate. Roland Burris was sworn in as senator on January 15, 2009 after being appointed by tainted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Barack Obama, the most recent, resigned from his position on November 16, 2008, after winning the Presidential election of 2008 and becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. Until the emancipation of enslaved African Americans after the Civil War and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, blacks were generally barred from voting outside of the Northeast and in the South, respectively. As a result of these new laws, Joseph Rainey and Jefferson F. Long won election to Congress in majority-black districts and Hiram Rhodes Revels was appointed as senator from Mississippi (then a majority-black state) in 1870. However, the end of Reconstruction in 1876 marked a weakening of black rights and by 1901, when George Henry White left the House after losing a reelection bid, there were no African Americans left in Congress.

In 1929, Oscar Stanton de Priest became the first African American congressman since George Henry White. He and his successor, Arthur W. Mitchell, spent their tenure as the only African Americans in Congress while representing a majority-black House district in Chicago. In 1970, a year that saw the election of four black freshman congressman, black membership in the House reached double-digits. Shirley Chisholm became the first African American female member of Congress when she won a 1968 election in New York, while Andrew Young of Georgia became the first modern African American congressman from the South after he won election in 1972.

Only six African Americans have served in the U.S. Senate. Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce both served during Reconstruction in then majority-black Mississippi. The only popularly elected ones are Edward Brooke (served 1967-79), Carol Moseley Braun (served 1993-99 as the first black female senator) and Barack Obama (served 2005-08). Roland Burris (served 2009-present) was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The last three all represented the same seat (Illinois, Class III).

[edit] Hispanic Americans

Representation of Hispanics is somewhat complex, particularly because of the different ways to define membership in this group. Hispanics represent over 14% of the U.S. population, while the Senate is 3% Hispanic and the House is approximately 5% (25 members) Hispanic. Considering that Hispanics make up only 4% of American voters, Hispanic political incorporation has been relatively high compared with previous immigrant groups. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus ^[15] has 21 members. Joseph Marion Hernández, a Spanish American, was the first Hispanic in Congress. He was a Whig Party territorial representative for Florida in 1822. The first to represent a state was Romualdo Pacheco, who represented California in 1877. In 1929, Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo became the first Hispanic to be elected to the United States Senate. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban American first elected in 1989, was the first Hispanic woman in Congress. While Hispanic women have served in House, none have been elected to the Senate.

Unlike black Americans, Hispanics never were legally barred from the polls and in New Mexico and California, Hispanics were a large and influential minority. Since the election of Dennis Chavez and Joachim O. Fernández to the House in 1931, Hispanics have continuously been represented in Congress. Most Hispanic members of Congress, including all elected prior to 1970, were of Mexican descent with the exception of Joseph Marion Hernandez. Herman Badillo won election in 1970 to become the first Puerto Rican from a state in Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was elected in 1989 as the first Cuban American congresswoman, and Richard Pombo won a seat in 1993 as the first Portuguese American member of congress.

Prior to 2005, only three Hispanics have won a term in the U.S. Senate. These members were Octaviano Larrazola (served 1928-29), Dennis Chavez (formerly of the House, and served 1935-62), and Joseph Montoya (also formerly a House member, serve 1964-77), all of Mexican descent. However, two Hispanics won Senate seats in 2004, Ken Salazar and Mel Martinez (the first Cuban American senator), and Bob Menendez was appointed and subsequently elected in 2006.

[edit] Asian and Pacific Islander Americans

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders also have a high level of political incorporation in terms of their actual voting population. But, as a result this group's historically low voting rates, overall political incorporation of the general population is relatively low. Although the population of this group has increased in size by 600% in 30 years due to immigration, heavy naturalization and voter outreach efforts have provided this primarily foreign-born community with less than 1% of voters but 1.25% of congressional population. However, since they represent 4.4% of the total population in the United States, this 1.25% still represents less than one-third of the total Asian American and Pacific Islander population. There are seven members of this group in the House and two in the Senate. Senator Daniel Inouye and Representatives Mike Honda, Doris Matsui, and Mazie Hirono are all Japanese Americans. Senator Daniel Akaka is a Native Hawaiian, while Delegate Eni Faleomavaega is a Samoan. Bobby Scott of Virginia, who is also half African American, has Filipino American ancestry. He has now been joined by Steve Austria of Ohio, who is half European American, and half Filipino American.

Robert William Wilcox, a Native Hawaiian who served as Hawaiian territorial delegate from 1900 to 1903, was the first Pacific Islander chosen to serve in Congress. Benito Legarda y Tuason and Pablo Ocampo joined the House in 1907 as Resident Commissioners, becoming the first Asian Americans to serve in the Congress, and beginning the representation of the Philippines which ended in 1947. Dalip Singh Saund (served 1957-63) was the first South Asian American in Congress and is one of only two Indian Americans to be elected to the legislature. Hiram Fong, who served three decades in the Senate from 1959 to 1977, remains the sole Chinese American member to have ever entered Congress. Daniel Inouye (serving since 1959) was the first Japanese American in the House and later the first in Senate. Patsy Mink (served 1965-77 and again from 1990-2002) was the first Asian American woman in Congress. Daniel Akaka (serving since 1977) is thus far the only native Hawaiian to serve in either the House or the Senate. Jay Kim, who was born in Seoul and served from 1993-99, remains as the only Korean American to have entered Congress, while current congressman David Wu became the first Taiwanese American representative in 1999. Bobby Scott, elected in 1993, is the first US born member of Congress to have Filipino ancestry.

Only five members of the U.S. Senate have been of Asian American or Pacific Islander backgrounds. Four of these politicians have been from Hawaii, with senators Hiram Fong, Spark Matsunaga, and Daniel Akaka providing a continuous hold for this ethnic group on a Class I seat from that state since its inception. Daniel Inouye has held the state's other senate seat for all but four years of statehood. Samuel Hayakawa (in office 1977-83) of California is the only other Asian to have served in the upper house. Hayakawa is actually of Japanese Canadian decent, but worked as a college professor in the United States.

[edit] Jewish Americans

Jewish Americans (31 members of the House and 14 members of the Senate) have a level of political incorporation that is much greater than their voting population would suggest (1.8% of the population). A Jewish American is 72 times more likely to be a US Senator than an African-American based on the ratio of population numbers to number of US Senators.

[edit] Native Americans

Compared with the primarily European American, African American, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American communities, American Indians, comprising 1.5% of the population, are the most underrepresented group. Tom Cole, a Chickasaw, is the only registered American Indian currently in Congress. Tracking Native American members of Congress is complex, since many people of mixed blood are not registered as part of the American Indian population. Charles Curtis, who was three-quarters Native American and had ancestries from a variety of different tribes, was elected in 1892 as the first U.S. representative from this group. Curtis accomplished several other firsts during his political tenure. He became the first American Indian to serve in the US Senate (in office 1907-13 and 1915-29), to lead a major party (served as Republican Senate Majority Leader from 1925-29), and to obtain the office of Vice President.

Several of the nation's major tribes have been represented in Congress in limited number. Charles David Carter (served 1907-27) was the first Choctaw in Congress; William Wirt Hastings (served 1915-35) was the first Cherokee in the legislature; Ben Reifel (seved 1961-71) was the first Sioux to win election to the body. Other than Curtis, only a few members of the U.S. Senate have been American Indians. Robert Latham Owen (served 1907-25) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (served 1993-2005 after several previous terms in the House and the first Cheyenne in Congress) are the others to have earned that distinction.

[edit] Middle Eastern Americans

Middle Eastern Americans also have typically low levels of voting incorporation, except among a particular voting group. As a whole, Middle Eastern Americans are not measured by the U.S. Census, which, combined with differences in the definition of this group, makes measuring its percentage of the population difficult. Estimates place about 1.8% of the nation's population to be of this origin. However, nearly all Middle Eastern members of Congress have been from one group, Lebanese Americans. George Kasem became the first Lebanese congressman when he won his first and only term in 1958. Since Abraham Kazen took office in 1977 (served until 1985), Lebanese Americans have been consistently represented in Congress. Currently there are three Lebanese members of the House: Nick Rahall, Charles Boustany, and Darrell Issa.

Five members of the U.S. Senate have been of Middle Eastern decent, with all five coming from Arab American backgrounds and four holding Lebanese decent. James Abourezk, who served from 1973 to 1979, became the first Lebanese American member of the upper house. George Mitchell (served 1980-95), who is half Lebanese, became the first Middle Eastern American party leader, as he served as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995. James Abdnor (served 1981 to 1987) and Spencer Abraham (1995-2001) also were Lebanese American senators.

[edit] Foreign-born Americans

Currently there is one foreign-born Senator: Mel Martinez of Florida, who was born in Cuba. Two other Senators were born overseas to U.S. citizen parents, John McCain of Arizona and Michael Bennet of Colorado, who were born in the Panama Canal Zone and India, respectively. However, they are not "foreign-born" in the sense that they were born U.S. citizens, rather than being naturalized later in life.

There are eight current Representatives who were born overseas—Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Albio Sires from Cuba; Mazie Hirono from Japan; Ciro Rodriguez from Mexico; Pete Hoekstra from the Netherlands; David Wu from Taiwan; and Joseph Cao from Vietnam—who in total comprise 1.8% of the voting membership of the House. This figure does not include three members^[who?] who were born overseas to U.S. citizen parents.

[edit] Elections

This article may need to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. (March 2009)

Elections for all House seats and 35 Senate seats were held on November 4, 2006 across the country. The Democratic Party increased its majority in both houses, and regained control of the White House after the expiry of the term of George W. Bush.

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the November 4, 2008 United States Senate election results^[16][17]

Party		Breakdown			Seats			Popular Vote
		Up	Elected	Not Up	2006	2008	+/−	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	12	19	37	49	56	+7	33,994,860	51.31%
	Republican Party	23	15	26	49	41	−8	30,057,338	45.36%
	Independents	0	0	2	2	2	0	258,089	0.39%
	Libertarian Party	0	0	0	0	0	0	794,230	1.20%
	Independence	0	0	0	0	0	0	459,094	0.69%
	Green Party	0	0	0	0	0	0	417,920	0.63%
	Constitution Party	0	0	0	0	0	0	222,384	0.34%
	Natural Law	0	0	0	0	0	0	18,745	0.03%
	Reform	0	0	0	0	0	0	15,983	0.02%
	Alaskan Independence	0	0	0	0	0	0	13,113	0.02%
	Socialist Workers Party	0	0	0	0	0	0	8,459	0.01%
	Undecided	0	0	0	0	1	0		-
Total		35	35	65	100	100	—	66,260,215	0.001%
Voter turnout:   -.-%
Sources: U.S. Senate, U.S. Senate Popular Vote and FEC Total Receipts by Party

United States House of Representatives elections, 2008
Party		Voting members[18][19]				Non-voting members[20]
		Votes	Percentage	Seats	+/–	Votes	Percentage	Seats	+/–
	Democratic[A]	59,713,061	53.04%	257	+21	1,952,133	94.34%	4	+1
	Republican	49,717,154	44.16%	178	–21	1,919	0.09%	0	–1
	Libertarian	1,039,054	0.92%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Independent[B][C]	913,414	0.81%	0	0	21,574	1.04%	2	+1
	Green	552,172	0.49%	0	0	14,386	0.70%	0	0
	Constitution	152,809	0.14%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Independence	150,906	0.13%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Working Families	97,805	0.09%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Independent Oregon	64,468	0.06%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Peace and Freedom	64,468	0.04%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Purple	28,541	0.03%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Conservative	25,148	0.02%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Independent American	22,768	0.02%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Reform	22,075	0.02%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Alaskan Independence	12,071	0.01%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Independent Green Populist	8,858	0.01%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Socialist Workers	8,290	0.01%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Progressive	7,920	0.01%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	American Independent	5,773	0.01%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Vote People Change	3,587	0.00%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Unity	2,093	0.00%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Term Limits for the United States Congress	2,039	0.00%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Socialist	519	0.00%	0	0	—	—	0	0
	Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico	—	—	0	0	43,607	2.11%	0	0
	Puerto Rican Independence	—	—	0	0	35,687	1.72%	0	0
	Vacant[D]	—	—	0	–1	—	—	0	—
Invalid or blank votes
Totals		112,588,380	100.00%	435	—	2,069,306	100.00%	6	+1
Voter turnout

^A The number of non-voting members also includes the non-voting member-elect from Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, who is a member of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico, but will caucus with the Democrats. The New Progressive Party is affiliated with both the Democratic and Republican Parties and the last representative from Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, caucused with the Republicans. The vote total for the non-voting members also includes the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, which has ties to the Democratic Party.

^B Both non-voting independents, American Samoa's representative Eni Faleomavaega and the Northern Mariana Islands' representative-elect Gregorio Sablan, will caucus with the Democrats. In America Samoa all elections are non-partisan.^[21] In the Northern Mariana Islands, Sablan appeared on the ballot as an independent.^[22]

^C Write-in candidates are included with the vote totals.

^D Ohio's 11th congressional district was previously Democratic before being vacant. The Democratic Party regained control after this election. A special election to fill the seat for the remainder of the 110th Congress was held on November 15, 2008.

[edit] References

[edit] Senate

[edit] House of Representatives

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hispanic Americans in Congress
• This Nation
• Congressional Pictoral Directory

v • d • e United States Congress (House of Representatives, Senate — 111th Congress) Members Congress: Current, Freshmen, Longest serving, Expelled | House: Current by seniority, Former members, Oldest living | Senate: Current by age, Current by seniority; Former, Former still living, Age/seniority, Expelled/censured, Classes Leaders House: Speaker (list), Party leaders, Party whips, Dem. caucus, Rep. conference, Dean | Senate: President pro tempore (list), Party leaders, Assistant party leaders, Dem. Caucus (Chair, Secretary, Policy comm. chair), Rep. Conference (Chair, Vice-Chair, Policy comm. chair), Dean Groups African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Caucuses, Committees, Hispanic Americans, Senate Women, House Women Agencies, Employees & Offices Architect of the Capitol, Capitol Guide Service (board), Capitol Police (board), Chiefs of staff, GAO, Government Printing Office, Law Revision Counsel, Librarian of Congress, Poet laureate | House: Chaplain, Chief Administrative Officer, Clerk, Doorkeeper, Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Operations, Historian, Page (board), Parliamentarian, Postmaster, Reading clerk, Recording Studio, Sergeant at Arms | Senate: Chaplain, Curator, Historian, Librarian, Page, Parliamentarian, Secretary, Sergeant at Arms Politics & Procedure Act of Congress (list), Caucuses, Committees, Hearings, Joint session, Oversight, Party divisions, Rider, Sponsorship, Saxbe fix | House: Committees, History, Procedures, Mace of the House | Senate: Committees, Filibuster, History, Jefferson's Manual, Traditions, VPs' tie-breaking votes Buildings Botanic Garden, Capitol, Capitol Complex, Office buildings (House: Cannon, Ford, Longworth, Rayburn, O'Neill (demolished), Senate: Dirksen, Hart, Russell) Research Biographical directory, Congressional Quarterly, Congressional Record, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress (Law Library, Copyright Office), The Hill, Roll Call, THOMAS Misc List of lists, Congressional districts (by area), Power of enforcement, Scandals Websites: House of Representatives | Senate