Senate freshmen: What the 14 new members bring to Capitol Hill

A freshman Senate class was sworn in Jan. 3, bringing diverse skills and experience – not to mention agendas – to the legislative body. Whether the 14 newest senators help break partisan gridlock, or refuse to work across the aisle, will be the test for the 113th Congress.

Twelve were elected on Nov. 6, including three Republicans, eight Democrats, and an independent. In addition, a Republican and a Democrat were appointed to vacant seats after the election. Here is a look at the 14 and what they bring to the Senate:

Tammy Baldwin (D) of Wisconsin

Andy Manis/AP/File
Sen.-elect Tammy Baldwin (D) of Wisconsin delivers her victory speech in Madison on election night.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a progressive Democrat, made history on election night, becoming the first openly gay person and first Wisconsin woman elected to the Senate. But in her election night acceptance speech, she was quick to downplay those firsts.

“I’m well aware that I will have the honor to be the first woman senator from Wisconsin. And I’m well aware that I will be the first openly gay member of the United States Senate,” Ms. Baldwin said. “I didn’t run to make history – I ran to make a difference.”

To Baldwin, that includes securing funding for education, retirement security for seniors, resources for veterans, and support for small businesses, issues she carries over from her 14-year tenure in the House.

Elected in 1998, Baldwin’s voting record has consistently been ranked as one of the most liberal, according to the National Journal. She opposed the war in Iraq, cosponsored a bill to impeach then-Vice President Dick Cheney, and heavily criticized Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint. Another top issue for Baldwin is access to healthcare: She championed a section in Obama’s health-care reform law that allowed young people to stay on their parent’s insurance until age 26.

Wisconsin voters have alternated between electing Republicans and Democrats, so the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl was up for grabs. Baldwin defeated four-term Gov. Tommy Thompson by 5.6 percentage points, downplaying her liberal record but focusing her attacks on Mr. Thompson's proposal to abolish Medicaid and Medicare.

She raised $14 million during the campaign with top contributions from EMILY’s List, Moveon.org, and the League of Conservation Voters. Some $65 million was spent by both candidates and by outside groups, in a vigorous attempt by Republicans to regain the seat.

Before her election to the House, Baldwin served in the Wisconsin Assembly for six years and on her local County Board of Supervisors six years.

She is slated to serve on four committees in the new session: Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Aging, Homeland Security and Government Affairs (HSGAC), and Budget.

1 of 14

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.