Story at a glance
- The total number of lawmakers in the 118th Congress that identify as something other than white is the highest in the nation’s history.
- Each of the past seven Congresses has broken its predecessor’s record for racial and ethnic diversity.
- The 118th Congress also includes a record number of women lawmakers.
The number of lawmakers in the 118th Congress who identify their race or ethnicity as something other than white is the highest in the country’s history.
In total, 133 members of Congress identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian or Alaska Native, representing one-quarter of the 534 voting members, as of Jan. 3, 2023.
That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center based on data from the Congressional Research Service. The findings are consistent with past reports documenting the growing racial and ethnic diversity of Congress. Each of the past seven Congresses has broken its predecessor’s diversity record.
In the current Congress, 60 lawmakers identify as Black, 54 as Hispanic, 18 as Asian American and five as American Indian or Alaska Native.
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In comparison, the 107th Congress — sworn in in 2001 — included 36 members who identified as Black, 19 as Hispanic, seven as Asian American and just one as American Indian or Alaska Native.
The House of Representatives has more ethnic and racial diversity than the Senate, according to the report. However, Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) election marks the first time an American Indian has served in the Senate in nearly two decades.
Eighty percent of racial and ethnic minority lawmakers in the current Congress are Democrats. The party breakdown is similar to the previous Congress, researchers said, where 83 percent of racial and ethnic minority lawmakers identified as Democrats and 17 percent as Republicans.
However, more freshman representatives identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian or Alaska Native, in the current Congress than they did in the previous Congress.
Additional data from the Center show the 118th Congress has a record number of women members, who hold 28 percent of all seats.
Despite the increased racial and ethnic representation seen in the newest Congress, researchers note white members are over-represented compared with the U.S. population.
Three-quarters of the lawmakers identify as white compared with 59 percent of the general population, Census data show.
The representation gap is also similar to that recorded 40 years ago, when 94 percent of Congress was white, and 80 percent of the U.S. population identified as white.
While representation for some racial and ethnic groups remains low, some are proportional to their share of the U.S. population. The Pew data show 13 percent of House members identify as Black, a percentage similar to that of the U.S. population.
In contrast, only 11 percent of the House identify as Hispanic Americans compared with 19 percent of the U.S. population, while 4 percent of House members identify as Asian American compared with 6 percent of the population.
Although Congressional representation continues to improve, the findings come amid a growing push to boost diversity among congressional staffers. A report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies published late last year found only 18 percent of all top staff in the House of Representatives are people of color.
Published on Jan 09,2023