The next map illustrates the members of the new House whose current tenure began following the Nov. 6, 2018 elections. Unsurprisingly, in light of their historic wave victory, there are twice as many newly elected Democrats as Republicans.
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Looking at those newly elected members by gender yields a stark contrast between the parties: Only one of the 30 new House Republicans is a woman, compared to 35 of the 62 new Democrats who are women—a majority of the Democrats’ incoming class.
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And as shown on map below, which breaks down membership by race and ethnicity, people of color also make up a record proportion of the House—one quarter. Again, there’s a sharp divide: Among Democrats, 42% of House members are people of color, but only 5% of House Republicans are.
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In total, heterosexual non-Hispanic white men still make up 60% of the House, but those numbers also diverge by party: They’re just 36% of House Democrats but an overwhelming 89% of House Republicans.
Turning to the Senate, the upper chamber is much less demographically representative of the nation as a whole than the House, as shown in the chart below.
Women make up 25% of the total (a similar proportion to the House): 36% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans. The Senate is significantly whiter than the House: Only 9% of senators are people of color, including just 13% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans. Heterosexual non-Hispanic white men comprise 70% of the Senate, but just like in the House, those numbers are significantly different by party: They make up 55% of Democratic senators and 79% of Republicans.
We’ll continue to analyze and visualize the demographics and geography of the new Congress members in an ongoing series of articles. You can also find our previous guide for the outgoing 115th Congress here.
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