Meet Five Freshman Primary Winners You May be Seeing on Capitol Hill this November
What do a dentist, a lawyer, two vice presidents, and a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe have in common? You may be seeing all of them on Capitol Hill come November.
The following candidates have won congressional primaries this year in districts where their party is largely in control. These party nominees almost certainly will win elections in November and become House Members in the 116th Congress, which will convene in January 2019. These bios are an initial version of the profiles that will appear in the 2020 Almanac of American Politics. Let us introduce you!
Jeff Van Drew; New Jersey – 2nd District
- Graduated from Rutgers University
- Family Dentist for more than 35 years
- Elected State Senator in 2007
- Democrat with conservative leanings and endorsed by local and national party leaders as the most likely Democrat to flip control of the incumbent seat
Debra Haaland; New Mexico – 1st District
- Received Bachelor’s and Law degree from University of New Mexico
- Native American, former Pueblo Tribal Administrator
- Unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2014 but became Democratic Chairman in 2016
- If elected, Debra would be the first Native American woman elected to Congress
Kelly Armstrong; North Dakota – 1st District
- A native of Dickinson, North Dakota
- Received Bachelors and Law Degree from the University of North Dakota
- Served as Vice President of his family’s oil and gas business as well as practicing law in his hometown
- Elected to State Senate in 2012 and chairs the Judiciary Committee
Dusty Johnson; South Dakota – 1st District
- University of South Dakota Graduate
- Served as an aide to Governor Mike Rounds and was elected in 2004 to the state’s Public Utilities Commission
- Became Governor Dennis Daugaard’s Chief of Staff in 2010
- Took on the private sector as Vice President of Vantage Point Solutions, a telecommunications engineering and consulting firm
Ben Cline; Virginia – 1st District
- Graduate of Bates College and the University of Richmond Law School, and was an assistant prosecutor in Rockingham County
- Worked for Bob Goodlatte for 8 years before being elected to the state house in 2002
- House Chairman of the Conservative Caucus as well as the Militia, Police, and Public Safety committee.
These profiles were prepared by Rich Cohen with the assistance of biographical and campaign information from Ballotpedia, the Encyclopedia of American Politics. Cohen is a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, a reference work published biennially by Columbia Books Information Services. The Almanac of American Politics contains in-depth profiles of every governor, senator, and house member in office. Order the 2018 edition today to better understand the context of the people and perspectives shaping the issues that matter to you!
