5 Minnesota Freshmen Representatives Sworn In At Nation's Capitol

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota is officially sending five new members to the U.S. Congress Thursday, as they will be sworn in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

Angie Craig, Dean Phillips, and Ilhan Omar are the freshmen Democratic representatives, and Pete Stauber and Jim Hagedorn are the new Republican members of Congress.

The Democrats are taking majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Returning to office are Democrat Betty McCollum and Republicans Tom Emmer and Collin Peterson. Peterson will have a particularly important job, acting as the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee.

The first order of business for the U.S. House will be the expected swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. There are 235 democrats in this congressional class to 199 Republicans.

Representative Ilhan Omar has been getting much attention for being one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and the first Somali-American. Also, Angie Craig is set to become the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Minnesota.

Some of the new members of Congress have been posting photos of their transition to Washington.

Dean Phillips posted photos of his daughters taking him to the airport to head to DC in late December:

The morning after the 2016 election, I promised my daughters I'd do something. Today, they drove me to the airport for my flight to Washington to become a United States Congressman. Anything is possible.

Posted by Dean Phillips for Congress on Sunday, December 23, 2018

Ilhan Omar and her father, who came through D.C. 23 years ago as refugees, posted this:

And Pete Satuber posted this photo after flipping his district in northeast Minnesota:

Your Washington office is open! Residents of the 8th - If you are ever in DC, please stop by Cannon 126. It is going to...

Posted by Pete Stauber on Wednesday, January 2, 2019
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