The changing face of Congress in 7 charts
Apart from its political makeup, the new Congress differs from prior ones in other ways, including its demographics.
With fewer state governments divided by party than in years past, GOP has edge in redistricting
When legislatures get the data to draw new congressional maps, Republicans will drive that process in 20 states, versus 11 for Democrats.
Immigrants and children of immigrants make up at least 14% of the 117th Congress
At least 76 of the voting members of the 117th Congress are foreign born or have at least one parent born in another country.
Boomers, Silents still have most seats in Congress, though number of Millennials, Gen Xers is up slightly
Even as younger generations gain representation in Congress, older generations still make up the majority of senators and representatives.
U.S. Senate has fewest split delegations since direct elections began
Only six states now have U.S. senators of different parties – the smallest number of split delegations in more than a century.
Single-party control in Washington is common at the beginning of a new presidency, but tends not to last long
Unified government at the beginning of a president’s first term has been the norm, especially for Democratic presidents.
Racial, ethnic diversity increases yet again with the 117th Congress
124 lawmakers today identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American, a 97% increase over the 107th Congress of 2001-02.
Though not especially productive in passing bills, the 116th Congress set new marks for social media use
Voting members of the 116th Congress collectively produced more than 2.2 million tweets and Facebook posts in 2019 and 2020.
Black Americans have made gains in U.S. political leadership, but gaps remain
Kamala Harris’ election represented an advance in the progress Black Americans have made in recent decades in political leadership.
Nothing lame about this lame duck: 116th Congress had busiest post-election session in recent history
No lame-duck session in the nearly 5 decades for which data is available has been as legislatively productive as that of the 116th Congress.
