116th Congress Stats – Average age of the 116th Congress is 49; 63 new members are Democrats (60 House, 3 Senate) 37 new members are Republicans (31 House, 6 Senate) 40 new members are women (36 House, 4 Senate) 60 new members are men (55 House, 4 Senate) Even though this is the youngest freshman class since 2011, the 116th Congress will be, on average, 58.6 years old, the same as the last Congress, and about a year older than the 114th. Importantly, however, the Democrats’ majority in the House hands them new powers to investigate the president and his administration. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) are the first two Muslim American women elected to Congress. Committee Democrats can now hold hearings, request documents and issue subpoenas to expose potential malpractice, incompetence and corruption within the administration. The 116th Congress has a record-breaking number of women, 125.
Sophie McBain is a special correspondent at the New Statesman. Already, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is exercising its muscle, with at least two prominent House members, Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna of California saying they will not vote for a rule proposed by the party leadership that would require all new federal spending to be offset by cuts. All three will must take strategic decisions: investigating Trump on too many fronts could backfire, distracting voters from the most pressing issues and risking the appearance of pettiness and partisanship, which could alienate some supporters. The 116th Congress will be the most diverse, thanks to the record numbers of women, people of colour and LGBT members elected last year, but its ideological divides are deeper than ever and could hinder urgent efforts to end the government shutdown and provide an effective check to President Donald Trump. By Beatrice Jin | 11/23/18 05:00 AM EDT | UPDATED 1/7/19 9:34 AM. Omar will also be the first member of Congress to wear a headscarf and first woman of color elected to Congress from Minnesota. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has four. We looked at the newest additions to the House and Senate — 100 non-incumbent winners* — and found their average age is 49. Five worked in education or were teachers. This should come as no surprise, considering that over the past 30 years the average age of a Member of Congress has increased with almost every new Congress. Now she says I was right all along, Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and life in “anti-intellectual times”, Why Scottish Home Rule is no longer a viable alternative to independence, Commons Confidential: The Downing Street guppy, Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech lacked an inspiring vision, The disturbing world of gun rights activism, How research partnerships can help deliver a prosperous post-pandemic future, “Nobody feels it’s equal”: how Israel’s second lockdown is widening the religious-secular divide.