62 UMs fill seats as Congress convenes

 

 

 

 

 

10 church members
represent Texas in
U.S. House chamber

United Methodist News Service
WASHINGTON—Sixty-two United Methodists—including 10 from Texas—took seats when the 110th Congress convened Jan. 4.
That’s the same number as in the 109th Congress. United Methodists remain third among all religious groups.
The 110th Congress is reported to be the most religiously diverse ever.
U.S. Rep. Mark Ellison, D.-Minn., is the first Muslim to serve in Congress. He was sworn in using an English translation of the Koran that belonged to President Thomas Jefferson.
With 10 members—the same as in the 109th Congress—Texas has the largest number of United Methodists in Congress. Florida follows with five, Ohio with four, and Indiana and Kansas with three each.
Two of the United Methodists in the House—Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi—come from communities in the Southwest Texas Conference area.
Doggett is a member of First UMC, Austin. Ortiz belongs to El Buen Pastor UMC, a Rio Grande Conference congregation in Corpus Christi.
Texas has had the largest contingent of United Methodists in Congress since at least 1990.
Thirty states elected at least one United Methodist to Congress in 2006, the same as in 2004. Results of the Nov. 7 elections changed some of the United Methodist faces and party affiliations, resulting in a net gain of four Democrats.
In the House of Representatives, the United Methodist count by party is 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats. All five newly elected United Methodists in the House are Democrats:
> Tim Mahoney, D-Fla., filling the seat vacated by Mark Foley.
> Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa.
> Nancy Boyda, D-Kan.
> Betty Sutton, D-Ohio.
> Baron P. Hill, D-Ind.
In the Senate the same 13 United Methodists are to serve during the 110th Congress as were members of the 109th.
The United Methodist number in the Senate is second to Roman Catholics.
United Methodists missing from the 110th Congress are:
> Jim Kolbe of Arizona, who retired.
> Tom Osborne of Nebraska, who ran unsuccessfully for governor.
> The Rev. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a United Methodist pastor, who was elected governor of the Buckeye State.
> Donald Sherwood of Pennsylvania, who was defeated in November.
> Rob Portman of Ohio, who resigned from Congress in 2005 to become President Bush’s U.S. trade representative.
Thirty-five United Methodists represent states in the South or Border South. Sixteen hail from the Midwest, seven from the Rocky Mountain West and the Pacific Coast, and three from the Mid-Atlantic states.
No United Methodists represent New England.
In terms of strength within state delegations, the denomination is strongest in Kansas, where three of six members belong to The United Methodist Church.
Two of five members in Nebraska and New Mexico are United Methodists. A third of the members from Arkansas and Wyoming are United Methodists.
Thirty percent of the Texans in Congress are United Methodists.
The top 10 faith groups in the 110th Congress are Roman Catholic, Baptists, United Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews, Episcopalians, nondenominational Protestants, Lutherans, Mormons and nondenominational Christians.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are also United Methodists.
Six United Methodists are serving as state governors:
> Janet Napolitano, Democrat, Arizona.
> Ruth Ann Minner, Democrat, Delaware.
> Charlie Crist, Republican, Florida.
> David Heinemann, Republican, Nebraska.
> Ted Strickland, Democrat, Ohio.
> Rick Perry, Republican, Texas.