Here Are Some of the New House Members Entering Congress

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 2, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—The GOP maintained its narrow majority in the House of Representatives in the Nov. 5 election, although it will lose one seat and, for a few months, have a zero-seat margin due to two of its members being nominated to serve in the Trump administration and another member resigning.

The Democrats netted two seats but fell short of taking control of the lower congressional chamber.

Below are 12 of the 63 incoming Democrat and Republican members of the House who will be part of the 119th Congress when it convenes on Jan. 3.

Josh Riley

Democrat Josh Riley flipped New York’s 19th Congressional District, unseating Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.).

The 43-year-old moderate looked to appeal to both Democrat and Republican voters, including supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

“I ran my campaign not trying to focus too much on a political party,” Riley told the outlet City & State after his election win.

“I broke with my own party in the places where I thought it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I think what cut through is people around here don’t really care all that much about Democrat or Republican.”

Riley also said he would work with the Trump administration on issues such as manufacturing, trade, and no taxes on tips and Social Security benefits.

As a lawyer, Riley is no stranger to Capitol Hill, where he worked for former Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Craig Goldman

Craig Goldman, who will succeed Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) in representing the 12th Congressional District, will add to the number of Republican Jewish members of Congress, of which there are currently only two: Reps. Max Miller (R-Ohio) and David Kustoff (R-Tenn.).

Goldman, 56, defeated Democrat Trey Hunt to win Granger’s seat.

The House GOP soon having three Jewish members comes as Jews in the United States have experienced an increase in anti-Semitism since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel—the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

A member of the Texas House of Representatives, Goldman has previously worked for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

One of the top issues for Goldman is the crisis at the southern border.

“We have to secure the border first before we decide what to do about people who are already in the U.S.,” he told the Texas Jewish Post.

“It’s not an issue of race or any particular country but a matter of state and national security.”

Eugene Vindman

Democrat Eugene Vindman, 49, will represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, succeeding Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who next year is running for governor of the Commonwealth.

Vindman defeated Republican Derek Anderson.

Vindman and his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, both held jobs with the National Security Council (NSC) and played a role in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment over his disputed 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Senate acquitted Trump.

The brothers were removed from the NSC staff and remained active duty Army officers, although they alleged they had been fired in retaliation for whistleblowing.

Born in Soviet Ukraine, the Vindmans came to the United States at age 3. Eugene Vindman is a U.S.. Army veteran who served in the Iraq War.

“The bottom line is that I want to serve my community. I’ve retired from the Army, but now I have a change of mission—and that’s to serve the community I decided to live in and raise my kids in,” he told The Washington Post in November 2023 upon announcing his run for Congress.

Julie Fedorchak

Julie Fedorchak, a Republican, will represent North Dakota’s at-large congressional district, succeeding former Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who was elected governor of the state and sworn into office on Dec. 15.

Fedorchak, 56, defeated Trygve Hammer, a Democrat. She has been a member of the North Dakota Public Service Commission since 2012.

She is the first Republican woman to represent the Peace Garden State in the House and the second female elected to Congress from there since former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). Along with South Carolina’s Sheri Biggs, Fedorchak will be the only freshman female Republican in the new Congress.

Energy is a top issue for Fedorchak.

In her announcement to run for Congress, she said it is “fundamental to our public safety” and “a huge national security issue.”

“Our energy policy in this country is not on firm footing,” she said. “There’s just a huge lack of understanding in Washington, D.C., on how our energy systems work.”

Derek Tran

Democrat Derek Tran defeated Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) in California’s 45th Congressional District.

An Army veteran, Tran, 42, is the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress from California and the third over-all.

“I’m running for Congress to put people over politics, to protect our democracy, and to ensure that everyone, no matter what neighborhood they come from, has an opportunity to get ahead and live the American dream without fear of losing their freedoms,” he told HuffPost upon announcing his race for Congress in October 2023.

Tran, an attorney, has a stance on certain issues that deviates from the Democrat Party platform.

One example is reducing both taxes and regulations for small businesses and middle-class families.

He has also called for age limits for presidential candidates and members of Congress.

Nick Begich

Nick Begich, a Republican, will represent Alaska’s at-large congressional district, having defeated Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska).

Begich, 47, comes from a prominent political family.

His grandfather, Nick Begich Sr., represented the at-large district as a Democrat from January 1971 until December 1972, when he was presumed dead following a plane crash.

The congressman-elect’s uncle, Mark Begich, served as a Democratic senator between 2009 and 2015.

Another uncle, Tom Begich, was a Democratic member of the Alaska State Senate between 2017 and 2023 and the chamber’s minority leader between 2019 and 2023.

Nick Begich, a business owner, announced his congressional run in July 2023.

“What we are seeing in Washington is broken: lost opportunities for Alaskans, a focus on so many of the wrong priorities, big government lobbyists and insiders who are selling our nation to the highest bidder,” he said in a thread on X.

Gil Cisneros

Gil Cisneros, a Democrat, returns to Congress after defeating Republican Daniel Martinez in California’s 31st Congressional District with 59.7 percent of the vote.

He will succeed Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), who declined to run for reelection after a House career of more than 25 years.

Cisneros represented California’s 39th Congressional District between 2019 and 2021 before being narrowly defeated by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) in 2020.

The Navy veteran previously served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon under the Biden administration.

The 53-year-old congressman-elect is a multimillionaire, having won a $266 million lottery after being laid off from his managerial job at Frito-Lay.

Cisneros ran on a platform of protecting abortion rights, instituting gun control, combating climate change, and ensuring animal welfare.

Abe Hamadeh

Republican Abe Hamadeh defeated Greg Whitten, a Democrat, in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District with 56.5 percent of the vote.

He and Yassamin Ansari will be the first members of Congress from Arizona who are of Middle Eastern descent.

He will succeed Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), who did not run for reelection.

Hamadeh, 33, will be not only one of the youngest members of the freshmen class but also one of the youngest in Congress.

He is a staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, who endorsed him in his unsuccessful 2022 bid to be Arizona’s attorney general.

Trump also endorsed him in his congressional run, though he also endorsed Hamadeh’s primary rival, Blake Masters.

“Abe Hamadeh is Strong on the Border, the Military/Vets, Crime, Cutting Taxes, Election Integrity, and Protecting our Great Second Amendment. He knows that if the flame of freedom is extinguished, it may never come back again,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Hamadeh is in the Army Reserve and was a prosecutor in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Wesley Bell

Wesley Bell, a Democrat, won easily over Republican Andrew Jones in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District with 75.9 percent of the vote.

But his primary victory denying Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) her reelection bid made him a force to reckon with.

Bell, 50, was heavily supported by pro-Israel groups in his primary against Bush, a member of “The Squad,” a group of progressive House Democrats known for being anti-Israel.

Previously, Bell was the top prosecutor in St. Louis County, the first black person to hold that position.

He ran on a platform that included reducing prescription drug costs and combating climate change.

Bell is not the only one to defeat a Squad member during the primary season.

George Latimer, a Democrat who will be representing New York’s 16th Congressional District, defeated Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.). Both Bush and Bowman were first elected in 2020.

Sarah McBride

Sarah McBride, a Democrat, who identifies as female, will be the first transgender lawmaker to serve in Congress.

The Democrat will represent Delaware’s at-large congressional district, succeeding Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), who was elected to the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). McBride defeated Republican John Whalen.

McBride’s coming term has already drawn attention as Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) successfully pushed for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to set a rule that all single-sex bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol be reserved for “individuals of that biological sex.”

McBride, 34, has sought to downplay the bathroom issue.

“I didn’t run for the United States House of Representatives to talk about what bathroom I use,” McBride told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Mark Harris

Republican pastor Mark Harris comes to Congress after attempting an earlier run in 2018, but the results were invalidated due to alleged election fraud. Harris was not criminally charged.

He defeated Justin Dues, a Democrat, in the 2024 election.

A Southern Baptist, he will represent North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, succeeding Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general of the Tar Heel State.

Harris, 58, has faced criticism over his criticisms of other religious faith in his past sermons.

In November 2010, he described Islam as a “great counterfeit,” and in 2011, he said there would be no end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until both Jews and Muslims convert to Christianity.

Brandon Gill

Republican Brandon Gill will be the youngest member of the freshmen class and the second-youngest member of Congress.

At the age of 30, he defeated Democrat Ernest Lineberger III in Texas’ 26th Congressional District and will succeed Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), who did not seek reelection after more than two decades in Congress.

Gill is the son-in-law of conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza. He previously worked as an investment banker and founded the right-wing media outlet DC Enquirer.

Gill is a staunch ally of Trump, who endorsed his campaign.

He ran on a platform of securing the border, fiscal responsibility, standing with Israel, protecting the Second Amendment, designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups, and prohibiting minors from getting transgender surgeries.