wfn.org | Lutherans Take Office in 111th U.S. Congress

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutherans Take Office in 111th U.S. Congress
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>January 8, 2009  

>Lutherans Take Office in 111th U.S. Congress
>09-007-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- Seven new U.S. Congressional members
sworn into office Jan. 6 are Lutheran, bringing the overall total
of Lutherans serving on Capitol Hill to 24.

Among them are 15 Democrats and nine Republicans. Four are
senators and 20 are members of the U.S. House of Representatives,
according to the advocacy staff of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA).

Catholics make up 30 percent of the 111th U.S. Congress,
according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public
Life. Baptists form the second-largest group with 12 percent,
followed by Methodists (11 percent), Presbyterians (8 percent),
Episcopalians (7 percent) and Lutherans (4.5 percent).

The only new Lutheran in the U.S. Senate -- Jeff Merkley, D-
Ore. -- belongs to the ELCA, as do the three returning Lutheran
senators:  Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; and Tim
Johnson, D-S.D.

Three of the new Lutherans in the House of Representatives
are ELCA members: Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Chellie Pingree, D-
Maine; and Marc Schauer, D-Mich. Three others belong to the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS): Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill.;
Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; and Erik Paulsen, R-Minn.

Of the remaining Lutherans in the House, 11 are members of
the ELCA, two belong to LCMS and two are members of  Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). The ELCA members are: Lois
Capps, D-Calif.; John R. Carter, R-Texas; Norman D. Dicks, D-
Wash.; Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D.; Tom Latham, R-Iowa; Zoe
Lofgren, D-Calif.; Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn.; Thomas Petri, R-
Wis.; Bill Shuster, R-Pa.; and Tim Walz, D-Minn.

The LCMS members are Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and John M.
Shimkus, R-Ill. The WELS members are:  Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.,
and Ron Kind, D-Wis.

Dicks is the longest-serving Lutheran in Congress. He first
took office in 1976.

Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., didn't seek re-election and is the
only Lutheran in the 100th Congress not returning to office.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog