List of new members of the 109th United States Congress

The 109th United States Congress began on January 3, 2005. There were nine new senators (two Democrats, seven Republicans) and 40 new representatives (16 Democrats, 24 Republicans) at the start of its first session. Additionally, one senator (a Democrat) and six representatives (two Democrats, four Republicans) took office on various dates in order to fill vacancies during the 109th Congress before it ended on January 3, 2007.

Senate

Took office January 3, 2005

State	Image	Senator	Seniority	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year
Colorado		Ken Salazar (D)	9th (100th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R)	Attorney General of Colorado	1955
Florida		Mel Martinez (R)	7th (98th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Bob Graham (D)	U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mayor of Orange County	1946
Georgia		Johnny Isakson (R)	5th (96th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Zell Miller (D)	U.S. House of Representatives Georgia Senate Georgia House of Representatives	1944
Illinois		Barack Obama (D)	8th (99th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Peter Fitzgerald (R)	Illinois Senate	1961
Louisiana		David Vitter (R)	6th (97th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced John Breaux (D)	U.S. House of Representatives Louisiana House of Representatives	1961
North Carolina		Richard Burr (R)	1st (92nd overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced John Edwards (D)	U.S. House of Representatives	1955
Oklahoma		Tom Coburn (R)	3rd (94th overall)	No Open seat; replaced Don Nickles (R)	U.S. House of Representatives	1948
South Carolina		Jim DeMint (R)	2nd (93rd overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Ernest Hollings (D)	U.S. House of Representatives	1951
South Dakota		John Thune (R)	4th (95th overall)	Yes Defeated Tom Daschle (D)	U.S. House of Representatives	1961

Took office during the 109th Congress

State	Image	Senator	Took office	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year
New Jersey		Bob Menendez (D)	January 18, 2006	No Appointed; replaced Jon Corzine (D)	U.S. House of Representatives New Jersey Senate New Jersey General Assembly	1954

House of Representatives

Took office January 3, 2005

District	Representative	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year
California 3	Daniel Lungren (R)	No	Former Congressman	1946
California 20	Jim Costa (D)	No	Family farmer	1952
Colorado 3	John Salazar (D)	Yes	Soldier	1953
Florida 14	Connie Mack IV (R)	No	State Representative	1967
Florida 20	Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)	No	State Representative State Senator	1966
Georgia 4	Cynthia McKinney (D)	No	Former Congresswoman	1955
Georgia 6	Tom Price (R)	No	State Senator	1954
Georgia 8	Lynn Westmoreland (R)	No	State Representative	1950
Georgia 12	John Barrow (D)	Yes	Athens City Council, Athens County Commissioner	1955
Illinois 3	Dan Lipinski (D)	No	Political assistant, college professor	1966
Illinois 8	Melissa Bean (D)	Yes	Sales executive	1962
Indiana 9	Mike Sodrel (R)	Yes	Guardsman, automotive executive	1945
Kentucky 4	Geoff Davis (R)	Yes	Ranger, manufacturing consultant	1958
Louisiana 1	Bobby Jindal (R)	No	Consultant	1971
Louisiana 3	Charlie Melancon (D)	Yes	State Representative, Small business owner	1947
Louisiana 7	Charles Boustany (R)	Yes	Surgeon	1956
Michigan 7	Joe Schwarz (R)	No	Physician	1937
Missouri 3	Russ Carnahan (D)	No	State Representative	1958
Missouri 5	Emanuel Cleaver (D)	No	Mayor of Kansas City, Minister	1944
Nebraska 1	Jeff Fortenberry (R)	No	Publishing executive, economist	1960
New York 27	Brian Higgins (D)	Yes	Buffalo Common Councilman, State Representative, Political assistant	1959
New York 29	Randy Kuhl (R)	No	State Representative, State Senator, attorney	1943
North Carolina 5	Virginia Foxx (R)	No	State Senator, college professor/administrator	1943
North Carolina 10	Patrick McHenry (R)	No	State Representative, realtor	1975
Oklahoma 2	Dan Boren (D)	No	State Representative	1973
Pennsylvania 8	Mike Fitzpatrick (R)	No	Member of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, Attorney	1963
Pennsylvania 13	Allyson Schwartz (D)	No	State Senator	1948
Pennsylvania 15	Charlie Dent (R)	No	State Representative State Senator	1960
South Carolina 4	Bob Inglis (R)	No	Former Congressman, Attorney	1959
Texas 1	Louie Gohmert (R)	Yes	Soldier	1953
Texas 2	Ted Poe (R)	Yes	Prosecutor, judge Harris County, Airmen	1948
Texas 9	Al Green (D)	No	Justice of the Peace Harris County, attorney	1947
Texas 10	Michael McCaul (R)	Yes	Federal prosecutor	1952
Texas 11	Mike Conaway (R)	Yes	Soldier	1948
Texas 24	Kenny Marchant (R)	Yes	State Representative	1951
Texas 28	Henry Cuellar (D)	No	State Representative, Secretary of State Texas,	1955
Virginia 2	Thelma Drake (R)	No	State Representative, realtor	1949
Washington 5	Cathy McMorris (R)	No	State Representative, orchardist	1969
Washington 8	Dave Reichert (R)	No	Sheriff King County, Airmen	1950
Wisconsin 4	Gwen Moore (D)	No	State Representative, State Senate, civic affairs specialist	1951

Non-voting members

District	Delegate	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year
Puerto Rico at-large	Luis Fortuño (PNP/R)	Yes	Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce of Puerto Rico	1960

Took office during the 109th Congress

District	Representative	Took office	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year
California 5	Doris Matsui (D)	March 10, 2005	No	White House staffer	1944
Ohio 2	Jean Schmidt (R)	September 6, 2005	No	State Representative	1951
California 48	John Campbell (R)	December 7, 2005	No	State Senator	1955
California 50	Brian Bilbray (R)	June 13, 2006	No	U.S. House of Representatives	1951
New Jersey 13	Albio Sires (D)	November 13, 2006	No	State Assemblyman	1951
Texas 22	Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R)	November 13, 2006	No	City Councilor	1953

See also

• List of United States senators in the 109th Congress
• List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 109th Congress by seniority

Preceded by List of 108th Congress freshmen	Freshman-class members of the 109th Congress	Succeeded by List of 110th Congress freshmen