For other versions of this document, see http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20723 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Order Code RS20723 Updated August 20, 2008 Freshmen in the House of Representatives and Senate by Political Party: 1913-2008 Mildred Amer Specialist in American National Government Government and Finance Division Summary Sixty-five freshmen were elected in November 2006 to the 110th Congress: 55 to the House and 10 to the Senate. Most of the freshmen were Democrats, thus enabling the party to regain control of both houses of Congress after 12 years. The 103rd Congress freshmen class (elected in November 1992), which was composed of 110 new Representatives and 12 new Senators, represented the largest freshman class in more than four decades. Two years later, in 1994, the Republicans gained control of both the House and the Senate for the first time in some 40 years when 97 new Members (86 in the House, 11 in the Senate) were elected to the 104th Congress. This report will be updated after the November 2008 elections. Analysis of Data Table 1 shows, by party, the number of freshmen elected to the House in each election beginning in 1912 and those elected to the Senate beginning in 1914. These starting points were used because the size of the House was fixed at 435 before the election of 1912 and direct election of Senators commenced after ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1912. Italicized entries in the table denote the party which elected the majority of freshmen Members. Table 1 demonstrates that there can be a rebound effect in which one party has a majority of freshmen at the beginning of a Congress and the other party recovers part or all of the loss within the next two elections.1 Another pattern is a party shift occurring and prevailing over time. For example, in the time frame of this report, the 72nd through 1 For example, in the House in the 63rd Congress, Democratic freshmen numbered 102, Republican 44. In the House in the 64th Congress, Republican freshmen numbered 93, Democrats 38. Thus, the total for the two Congresses was 140 new Democrats and 137 new Republicans. This pattern appears repeatedly in both the House and the Senate. After the Republicans gained control of the House in the 104th Congress with 73 freshmen, the Democratic freshmen totaled 65 in the following two Congresses, while the number of Republican freshmen totaled 49. CRS-2 75th Congresses (1931-1938) established a Democratic dominance in the House that has since been overcome by the Republicans three times, in 1947-1948 (80th Congress), 1953- 1954 (83rd Congress), and 1995-2006 (104th -109th Congresses). The table shows instances in the House and Senate throughout the period of this study when one party has had a majority of freshmen, but that majority was insufficient to achieve control of a chamber. For example, see the Senate in the 107th Congress and both houses for the 76th, 78th, 105th, and 106th Congresses. Data Sources The data for the House from 1913 to 1953 were drawn from the lists of freshmen in Congressional Directories. Congressional Quarterly Inc. publications (including the yearly Almanacs and Weekly Reports), various Congressional Directories, and other published accounts were the sources for data on Representatives in subsequent years. Included in the House numbers are freshmen who were elected in November to fill a vacancy and then sworn in prior to the convening of the next Congress, as well as Representatives elected between the November election and the opening day of the next Congress. Representatives elected to fill vacancies during the course of a Congress were not counted. Delegates and Resident Commissioners were also not counted. The majority of data on Senators was obtained from The Senate, Historical Statistics, 1789-1992, by Senator Robert C. Byrd. Data for more recent years were obtained from Congressional Directories and various published accounts of congressional elections. Gubernatorial appointees, Senators elected in special elections not held in November, and Senators who were appointed in an election year and then subsequently elected were not counted. Returning former Members with interrupted service were also counted as freshmen. Footnoted are Congresses that included large numbers of these former Members. Those in which the number of such returnees was small are not identified. CRS-3 Table 1. Freshmen Members in the House of Representatives and Senate by Political Party: 1913-2008 House House Freshmen Senate Senate Freshmen Congress and Majority Majority Years Party Democrats Republicans Other Total Party Democrats Republicans Other Total 63rd, 1913-1914 Democratic 102 44 7 153 - - - - - 64th, 1915-1916 Democratic 38 93 4 135a Democratic 7 3 - 10 65th, 1917-1918 Democratic 39 43 2 84 Democratic 8 10 - 18 66th, 1919-1920 Republican 38 70 1 109 Republican 6 10 - 16 67th, 1921-1922 Republican 28 97 1 126b Republican 4 13 - 17 68th, 1923-1924 Republican 89 41 3 133c Republican 12 5 1 18 69th, 1925-1926 Republican 21 58 1 80 Republican 3 9 - 12 70th, 1927-1928 Republican 28 29 - 57 Republican 8 5 - 13 71st, 1929-1930 Republican 24 59 - 83 Republican 1 9 - 10 72nd, 1931-1932 Democratic 62 19 - 81 Republican 14 4 - 18 73rd, 1933-1934 Democratic 134 27 4 165 Democratic 16 0 - 16 74th, 1935-1936 Democratic 75 28 6 109 Democratic 13 0 - 13 75th, 1937-1938 Democratic 75 15 4 94 Democratic 12 2 1 15 76th, 1939-1940 Democratic 33 82 1 116 Democratic 5 8 - 13 77th, 1941-1942 Democratic 46 26 1 73 Democratic 5 7 - 12 78th, 1943-1944 Democratic 41 64 1 106 Democratic 3 10 - 13 79th, 1945-1946 Democratic 62 21 - 83d Democratic 8 6 - 14 80th, 1947-1948 Republican 35 73 - 108 Republican 4 15 - 19 81st, 1949-1950 Democratic 104 14 - 118e Democratic 14 4 - 18 82nd, 1951-1952 Democratic 21 51 1 73 Democratic 6 7 - 13 83rd, 1953-1954 Republican 31 50 - 81 Republican 6 9 - 15 CRS-4 House House Freshmen Senate Senate Freshmen Congress and Majority Majority Years Party Democrats Republicans Other Total Party Democrats Republicans Other Total 84th, 1955-1956 Democratic 39 17 - 56 Democratic 7 7 - 14 85th, 1957-1958 Democratic 24 22 - 46 Democratic 6 4 - 10 86th, 1959-1960 Democratic 63 19 - 82 Democratic 15 3 - 18 87th, 1961-1962 Democratic 19 44 - 63 Democratic 3 2 - 5 88th, 1963-1964 Democratic 36 31 - 67 Democratic 8 2 - 10 89th, 1965-1966 Democratic 71 20 - 91 Democratic 5 1 - 6 90th, 1967-1968 Democratic 14 59 - 73 Democratic 2 5 - 7 91st, 1969-1970 Democratic 20 19 - 39 Democratic 5 9 - 14 92nd, 1971-1972 Democratic 33 23 - 56 Democratic 5 5 1 11 93rd, 1973-1974 Democratic 27 41 1 69 Democratic 8 5 - 13 94th, 1975-1976 Democratic 75 17 - 92 Democratic 8 2 - 10 95th, 1977-1978 Democratic 47 20 - 67 Democratic 9 8 - 17 96th, 1979-1980 Democratic 41 36 - 77 Democratic 9 11 - 20 97th, 1981-1982 Democratic 22 52 - 74 Republican 2 16 - 18 98th, 1983-1984 Democratic 57 24f - 81 Republican 2 3 - 5 99th, 1985-1986 Democratic 12 31 - 43 Republican 5 2 - 7 100th, 1987-1988 Democratic 27 23 - 50 Democratic 11 2 - 13 101st, 1989-1990 Democratic 17 16 - 33 Democratic 5 5 - 10 102nd, 1991-1992 Democratic 25 18 1 44 Democratic 1 3 - 4 103rd, 1993-1994 Democratic 63 47 - 110 Democratic 7 5 - 12 104th, 1995-1996 Republican 13 73 - 86 Republican - 11 - 11 105th, 1997-1998 Republican 42 32 - 74 Republican 6 9 - 15 106th, 1999-2000 Republican 23 17 - 40 Republican 4 4 - 8 107th, 2001-2002 Republican 13 28 - 41 Repub/Demh 8i 2 - 10 CRS-5 House House Freshmen Senate Senate Freshmen Congress and Majority Majority Years Party Democrats Republicans Other Total Party Democrats Republicans Other Total 108th, 2003-2004 Republican 21 33 - 54 Republican 2 8j - 10 109th, 2005-2006 Republican 16 24 - 40 Republican 2 7 9 110th, 2007-2008 Democratic 42 13 - 55 Democratic 8 1 1 10 Grand Total 2028 1803 39 3870g 308 278 4 590 Percent of Total 52.4% 46.6% 1.0% 100% 52.2% 47.1% 0.7% 100% Sources: For House freshmen, various Congressional Directories, 1913-1951, Congressional Quarterly, Inc., and other published accounts of congressional elections from 1953-2006. For the House, the numbers are based on November election results and any special elections held between November and the convening of the next Congress. The numbers include former Members as well as Representatives simultaneously elected to fill a vacancy in an existing Congress and to their own seat in a new Congress. The numbers do not include special elections or appointments during the course of a Congress. For Senate freshmen, the source was Byrd, Senator Robert C. The Senate, Historical Statistics, 1789-1992 (Washington: GPO, 1993), pp. 414-415. From 1993 forward, the sources were various Congressional Directories and published accounts of congressional elections. The Senate numbers do not include gubernatorial appointments, special elections not held in November, or Senators appointed earlier in an election year and then elected in November. Italicized entries in the table denote the party which elected the majority of freshmen Members. a. Includes 19 former Members. b. Includes 18 former Members. c. Includes 26 former Members. d. Includes 16 former Members. e. Includes 22 former Members. f. Includes Member-elect who died before taking the oath of office. g. The numbers do not include Delegates or Resident Commissioners. h. As a result of the November 2000, election, the Senate had 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans at the beginning of the 107th Congress. However, a party switch by a Republican Senator in June 2000 shifted control of the Senate to the Democrats. i. Does not include Democratic Senator Jean Carnahan (D-MO), who was appointed in December 2000 to fill the vacancy caused by the posthumous election of her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan. j. Does not include Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed in December 2002 by her father, Frank Murkowski, to fill the vacancy caused by his election as governor of Alaska. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For other versions of this document, see http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20723