The new face of Congress
Congress will be looking a little different in 2023, and it has nothing to do with the extremely slight control Republicans will have over it. Yes, the Republicans will cause much unnecessary trouble and time wasting, such as Marjorie Taylor Green’s vow to “investigate” and “impeach” President Joe Biden, but she’s a nut. Instead of thinking about the headaches we will have from this new Congress, we should focus on something positive that happened this cycle. Breaking a record, 14 Latinos will be joining Congress this term. It is well past time that our representatives look like the people they represent. For years, Blacks and Latinos had no choice but to vote for old white men because they were the only ones running. Now, the choices run the gamut to include more women and more people of color.
In the case of the incoming freshman class, the average age of the 14 Latinos is 38. Younger representatives bring a new, fresh perspective to the world of governing that should be welcomed with open arms. Five of the new members are Republican, and 9 are Democrats. They include the first Gen Z member of Congress and the first openly gay Republican. As Washington Post reported, Oregon has never sent anyone of Hispanic descent to Congress, but this year, that state sent two, one Democrat and one Republican. The Democrats tend to lean liberal, running campaigns that called for Medicare-for-all, raising the minimum wage, and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
One of the more interesting things about this class is that they did not all come from majority Latino districts. Matt Barreto, who is a Democratic strategist, believes that these candidates succeeded by saying and showing: “We’re just as much a part of this district as anyone else.” That shows that people are beginning to relax their views when it comes to people of different backgrounds who look different than they do. They are listening to their words and not looking at their faces. This is exactly what this country needs. We need to, once and for all, remind ourselves that we are all immigrants to this country unless we are of Native American descent, and it is past time to for people to stop thumbing their noses at others, especially without even stopping to consider what contributions those people might make. We may look different on the outside, but we are all basically the same on the inside.
The “firsts” in this group go beyond the imagination. Greg Casar, the son of Mexican immigrants, will be the first Latino from Austin. Maxwell Frost of Florida is not only the first Gen Z elected to Congress, but he is the first Afro-Cuban member, and Delia Ramirez, whose mother is a Guatemalan immigrant, is the first Latina elected from a state in the Midwest. People want to stop or limit immigration, but look what we would have been deprived of had these young people’s parents been stopped at the border. Hopefully, these elections will help people to see the value that immigrants bring to this country.
Congress will be looking a little different in 2023, and it has nothing to do with the extremely slight control Republicans will have over it. Yes, the Republicans will cause much unnecessary trouble and time wasting, such as Marjorie Taylor Green’s vow to “investigate” and “impeach” President Joe Biden, but she’s a nut. Instead of thinking about the headaches we will have from this new Congress, we should focus on something positive that happened this cycle. Breaking a record, 14 Latinos will be joining Congress this term. It is well past time that our representatives look like the people they represent. For years, Blacks and Latinos had no choice but to vote for old white men because they were the only ones running. Now, the choices run the gamut to include more women and more people of color.
In the case of the incoming freshman class, the average age of the 14 Latinos is 38. Younger representatives bring a new, fresh perspective to the world of governing that should be welcomed with open arms. Five of the new members are Republican, and 9 are Democrats. They include the first Gen Z member of Congress and the first openly gay Republican. As Washington Post reported, Oregon has never sent anyone of Hispanic descent to Congress, but this year, that state sent two, one Democrat and one Republican. The Democrats tend to lean liberal, running campaigns that called for Medicare-for-all, raising the minimum wage, and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
One of the more interesting things about this class is that they did not all come from majority Latino districts. Matt Barreto, who is a Democratic strategist, believes that these candidates succeeded by saying and showing: “We’re just as much a part of this district as anyone else.” That shows that people are beginning to relax their views when it comes to people of different backgrounds who look different than they do. They are listening to their words and not looking at their faces. This is exactly what this country needs. We need to, once and for all, remind ourselves that we are all immigrants to this country unless we are of Native American descent, and it is past time to for people to stop thumbing their noses at others, especially without even stopping to consider what contributions those people might make. We may look different on the outside, but we are all basically the same on the inside.
The “firsts” in this group go beyond the imagination. Greg Casar, the son of Mexican immigrants, will be the first Latino from Austin. Maxwell Frost of Florida is not only the first Gen Z elected to Congress, but he is the first Afro-Cuban member, and Delia Ramirez, whose mother is a Guatemalan immigrant, is the first Latina elected from a state in the Midwest. People want to stop or limit immigration, but look what we would have been deprived of had these young people’s parents been stopped at the border. Hopefully, these elections will help people to see the value that immigrants bring to this country.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years