There are 43 legislators entering the Capitol for the first time on the Republican Party's ticket. Many will pass through the House of Representatives without leaving a lasting impression, but others are set to play an important role, at least in the two years until the next election. These are some of those names.
Monica de la Cruz
Monica de la Cruz is the first candidate to represent the Republican Party for the 15th district of Texas, in the southern part of the state. The Republican Party has a lot of ground to gain in the downstate counties; a way of saying that those districts, with a large Hispanic population, are a Democratic stronghold.
But Republicans have been winning the vote of a growing number of Hispanics in recent years, a trend that has been confirmed in 2022. Texas District 15 is a narrow vertical strip of land bordering Mexico on its southern boundary.
2022 was set to be, more than one newspaper said, the year of the Latina Republican. Mayra Flores, who had won a special election in Texas' 34th district. It adjoins the 15th district, and is a Democratic stronghold. In fact, he failed to hold his seat in the last election. Cassy Garcia also failed to win in the 28th. In view of these results, Monica de la Cruz's victory takes on greater value.
The 118th Congress has a record number of Hispanic legislators. And the Hispanic vote, on the one hand, is larger; and on the other, it feels increasingly represented by the Republican Party. The GOP needs Hispanic interlocutors in Congress, and Monica de la Cruz has an important role to play in this regard.
Anna Paulina Luna
She is not the only one with Hispanic roots. Republican Anna Paulina Luna is one of the faces of the Republican victory in Florida. She is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Of Mexican origin, she is one of the "Hispanic Republicans" that the press talks about, between astonishment and surprise. He has defeated Eric Lynn, a former Obama advisor, in the 13th district in Tampa Bay. Luna served in the Army for 9 years, from 2009 to 2018, and is the lead for Turning Point USA's Hispanic Engagement in Politics.
Mike Lawler
The red wave remained purple, albeit with warmer tones. The Republican Party lost a Senate seat, and although it regained control of the House of Representatives, it has done so by a narrow margin, with four seats over the magic number 218.
Ross Barkan talks about the Republican Party's new voters of the Republican Party in New York:
What unites immigrants from East Asia and Russia as well as Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews and the comparatively less strict Orthodox Jews? Fear of rising crime.
Mike Lawler
does not believe
that it is limited to concern about crime:
Latino, Asian, Jewish, and a growing number of African-American voters rejected woke orthodoxy and all that comes with it - crime, inflation, higher taxes, social disharmony - and voted instead for public safety, common sense, and classic American economic opportunity.
Lawler is one of the candidates who has flipped a Democratic district in New York. He is one of the voices that believes the party's future is brighter if the Donald Trump chapter is closed. And he points out that a significant part of the disappointment in the midterm election results is due to the poor quality of many of the candidates endorsed by the former president.
Max Miller
An opposite case is Max Miller, representative elected for Ohio's 7th district, with 55.4% of the vote. He is 34 years old, 4 of which he spent in the White House as an aide to President Trump. He will serve on the Steering Committee, a lackluster but very important committee, as it determines which committee his colleagues will serve on. That is to say, he is one of the key players in the strategy that the GOP will follow in the House of Representatives. A rara avis at a party that, for the important positions, has opted for veteran legislators.
Without abandoning his support of the former president, nor his conciliatory discourse, Miller has adopted a conciliatory tone and expresses a willingness to reach agreements with the Democrats on issues where possible. With a Democratic Party led by an extremist denier of election results like Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), it is unclear how far I could go. But with such a slim majority as the Republicans have, that attitude will be more necessary now than at other times.
Andy Ogles
A profile different from the two previous ones is that of Andy Ogles He defined himself as "the most conservative mayor in Tennessee." He has not received Donald Trump's support, nor has he needed it, although he has not failed to receive support from the former president so far. Mind you, he doesn't sound like a Trumpist, but like an old Reagan Republican: "If you look at the last two years, our freedoms and liberty have been under attack, have experienced a direct assault". He also states:
As Mayor of Maury County I worked aggressively to reject the vax and mask mandates that shuttered businesses, closed schools and churches, and put lives at risk with highly questionable claims of science-based authority.
The candidate for the House of Representatives lives on a farm with his wife and three children. He is an entrepreneur and real estate investor. In the political arena he has been an advisor to Newt Gingrich, and COO of Abolition International. As executive director of Americans for Prosperity (an organization founded by the Koch brothers), he helped Tennessee pass the largest tax cut in its history. And he has directed the Laffer Center.
The Republican studied Economics and Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). He has collaborated with Investor's Business Daily or The Wall Street Journal. He is now mayor of Maury County. Furthermore, he enters as a member of the Freedom Caucus, so he is part of Kevin McCarthy's headache in his efforts to become the new Speaker.
Houchin and Lee
The Democratic Party is several heads ahead of the Republican Party in the race to see how many women represent the values of each party. That is why women entering the House of Representatives from new are so valuable to that party. In addition to Monica de la Cruz and Anna Paulina Luna, others have entered: Lori Chavez DeRemer, Rin Houchin, Jen Kiggans, Harriet Hageman, Laurel Lee and Erin Houchin.
The latter two have particularly interesting profiles. Erin Houchin already has a notable political track record in Indiana, where she has served as a state senator for the past six years. He also has a career in the private market, and has created his own company.
He has conducted a campaign with a steady hand, which has led him to victory. And it has conservative values that the National Federation of Republican Women defines as follows:
Erin is a staunch conservative who is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-law enforcement. Her legislative priorities include fighting inflation, banning Critical Race Theory from school curriculums, pushing back against the Biden administration's proposed tax increases, and promoting election integrity. But she is also proud of the bi-partisan legislation that she helped pass through the Indiana legislature including laws assisting those in foster care and helping those who face the challenges of dyslexia.
Laurel Lee has served as Florida's Secretary of State under Ron DeSantis, and previously as a judge in the same state. Lee will be one of DeSantis' supporters in the new Congress.
