Every two years, the period between the November election and when the new Congress begins is often the busiest swath of time for covering Congress.<\/p>\n
Reporters are trying to figure out who won their elections and who lost. The existing Congress<\/a> is back, attempting to prevent a government shutdown and often plowing through a landscape of other major legislation. There are often leadership elections. For instance, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., defeated Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., to succeed outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as the top GOP leader in the Senate. Thune begins as Majority Leader Friday afternoon. We still don\u2019t know how much of a struggle House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faces returning to the Speaker\u2019s suite. It took former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., 15 rounds before he claimed the Speaker\u2019s gavel in 2023.<\/p>\n Time management is a problem for me with so much going on. The new Congress starts at noon on January 3. So I spend the time between the election<\/a> and the beginning of the new Congress learning, studying and memorizing the faces and biographies of as many incoming lawmakers as possible.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time-consuming. It\u2019s a challenge distinguishing some rookies from one another. Even getting the names and pronunciations right.<\/p>\n REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ DEMANDS ‘ASSURANCES’ SPEAKER JOHNSON ‘WON’T SELL US OUT TO THE SWAMP’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s quite a learning curve.<\/p>\n This process intensifies during the holidays. It\u2019s the final ramp-up to the launch of things on January 3.<\/p>\n Some people are easier to learn than others. Sens. Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., were household names in the House<\/a> before joining the Senate. In fact, they\u2019ve already become senators. Other new senators are high-profile because they ran in competitive races. Think Sens.-elect Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Dave McCormick, R-Penn. Sen.-elect Jim Justice, R-W.V., didn\u2019t face a challenging race to join the Senate. But Justice cut a national profile before winning \u2013 as did his constant canine companion Babydog.<\/p>\n But the real adventure is learning all of the new House Members.<\/p>\n The House is an enormous place. 435 people. Some new faces stand out in the House. But many are obscure. And it\u2019s especially hard to learn some of them if they didn\u2019t encounter a competitive race or were relative unknowns.<\/p>\n The House begins with 62 new Members plus non-voting delegates on Friday. My mission is to learn them all.\u00a0<\/p>\n My daily workout routine is a good opportunity for this. After all, the pace of Congress is kind of like a treadmill. But for my purposes, learning the freshman class is more like an elliptical. I go through the list of faces and names over and over again \u2013 as my legs churn each morning. I rotate through the entire House roster at least twice. I then carry the list to the stationary bike and study more there.<\/p>\n Some names are more prominent than others. For instance, Rep.-elect Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, was known before the election. He defeated Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, in a close race this fall. In addition, his surname is steeped in American political history \u2013 but mostly with the Democratic Party<\/a>. His uncle is former Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. His grandfather, the late Rep. Nick Begich, D-Alaska, was killed in a 1972 plane crash with late House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, D-La. Boggs is the father of late ABC and NPR journalist Cokie Roberts.<\/p>\n TRUMP GIVES JOHNSON ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT’ AHEAD OF SPEAKERSHIP FIGHT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n I try to meet as many Members of the incoming freshman class as possible. But as I wrote earlier, bandwidth is limited. The freshmen all descend on the Capitol complex during this zany period after the election for orientation. There just aren\u2019t enough minutes in the day.<\/p>\n But I was grabbing a drink with a good friend at The Monocle, a legendary Capitol Hill watering hole, a few weeks ago. I saw former Sen. Begich walk in \u2013 but couldn\u2019t get his attention to say hello. A few moments later, the Congressman-elect walked by. I grabbed him by the arm, introduced myself and gave him a business card.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trust me: it is easier to memorize the freshman class if you meet members in person. And I was proud of myself for being able to pick out Rep.-elect Begich in a crowd \u2013 based on my studies.<\/p>\n I spent a little time chatting with Reps.-elect Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., and Dave Taylor, R-Ohio. So I\u2019m confident in knowing those members.<\/p>\n Then there are people who left Congress \u2013 and are back. Such is the case with former Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., and Cleo Fields, D-La. Stutzman served in Congress just a few years ago and is returning. Fields served in the House nearly three decades ago in the 1990s when he was in his thirties.<\/p>\n I mentioned delegates a bit earlier.<\/p>\n Del.-elect Kimberlyn King-Hinds, R-Northern Mariana Islands, comes to Washington as a freshman in a few days. She succeeds retiring Del. Kilili Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands. I have not met King-Hinds yet. But multiple photos passed around show her wearing a tropical floral headpiece. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what King-Hinds wears all the time. But such apparel would make it easier to recognize King-Hinds.<\/p>\n For instance, the signature cowboy hat worn by Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., makes her stand out.\u00a0<\/p>\n GERMANY ACCUSES ELON MUSK OF TRYING TO INTERFERE IN ITS NATIONAL ELECTIONS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Then there are the pronunciations. Not every name is as easy as Rep.-elect Tim Moore, R-N.C., or Rep.-elect Gabe Evans, R-Colo. Try Rep.-elect Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va. It\u2019s pronounced soo-bruh-MAHN\u2014yum. The surname of Rep.-elect Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., is pronounced HAMM-uh-day. And the aforementioned Julie Fedorchak says her last name fedd-ORR-check.\u00a0<\/p>\n I conscripted Fox News Radio<\/a> reporter Ryan Schmelz to quiz me on the backgrounds of some of the freshman \u2013 as well as match photos with names. I had no problem guessing correctly when Schmelz showed me the photo of Rep.-elect Sarah Elfreth, D-Md. She succeeds retiring Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md.\u00a0<\/p>\n But I stumbled when Schmelz pointed to a picture of Rep.-elect Maxine Dexter, D-Ore. I immediately knew the Congresswoman elect was named “Maxine.” I was positive she was a Democrat and hailed from Oregon<\/a>. I even knew who she was succeeding: retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. But I didn\u2019t get the last name. I wanted to say “Deeter.” But I knew that wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n So, Schmelz stumped me there.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s the learning process. And even though I didn\u2019t know Dexter then, you can bet I won\u2019t forget her now.<\/p>\n And look forward to meeting her. I have known her predecessor for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n But frankly, you don\u2019t really learn the Members by studying a book. You learn them by seeing them in the hall. Chatting with them in the Speaker\u2019s Lobby. Interacting with them in interviews. Seeing how they do in hearings. You watch how they handle themselves on the floor.<\/p>\n And the best way to learn them?<\/p>\n Observing how they vote and perform as a Member of Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every two years, the period between the November election and when the new Congress begins is often the busiest swath of time for covering Congress. Reporters are trying to figure out who won their elections and who lost. The existing Congress is back, attempting to prevent a government shutdown and often plowing through a landscape … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}