Elections bring in group of trailblazing lawmakers with potential to reach new heights

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The midterm elections bring to Capitol Hill and state houses across the country a collection of high-achievers with enough brains and swagger to become fast-rising stars.

 

Election night wins for Republicans resulted in several ground-breaking candidates getting elected to office, in addition to the party picking up 21 additional congressional and three more gubernatorial seats.

 

“It was a night of important firsts,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday.

 

Utah Republican Mia Love is atop most lists, even if her arrival to Washington took longer than expected.

 

Love’s House race victory makes her the first black female Republican in Congress.

 

“This is historic but it’s not because of the color of my skin,” Love told Fox News on Wednesday. “It’s historic because Utah has decided to elect a person based on their principles.”

 

South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott’s Senate victory makes him the first black lawmaker elected to both chambers of Congress.

 

“The Republican Party is back,” said Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We are back with youth. We are back with diversity. … I would say that the women who are coming in are a very talented group.”

 

Priebus and Walden also expressed optimism about the future success of such trailblazing Republicans as Joni Ernst, whose win in Iowa makes her the first female combat veteran to get elected to the Senate and the first woman in Congress from that state.

 

In addition, 37-year-old Arkansas GOP Rep. Tom Cotton winning a Senate seat Tuesday makes him the youngest member of the upper chamber.

 

Republican Shelley Moore Capito’s Senate win in West Virginia makes her the first woman from that state elected to the chamber.

 

To be sure, several incoming Capitol Hill lawmakers, including at least three Harvard University graduates, have the pedigree and drive to put them firmly on the path to success.

 

However, the changing dynamics of politics and the media, particularly in the wait-your-turn Senate, has the potential to perhaps turn a freshman lawmaker into overnight politician star.

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New kids in town.