This week’s midterm elections brought historic firsts for diversity along with them—and a number of first-time elected officials whose professional backgrounds include firefighting, reconstructive surgery, and other work outside of politics.
Last year, public service and politics, business, and law were the “dominant professions” among members of Congress, according to the federal government’s website, though many had also worked in education in some capacity.
Analyses of past representatives from the Brookings Institution and the Congressional Research Office show that those professions have remained prevalent for decades, while some other industries, including agriculture and journalism, have seen some decline in representation.
The incoming class of elected officials may well have the same characteristics. However, this election season also attracted candidates from a variety of backgrounds, many of whom celebrated victories.
The doctors are in
Medical experts and scientists, in particular, felt compelled to run for office in light of the Trump administration’s attacks on research and subject-matter expertise.
Military veterans, whose presence in Congress has dwindled, according to Pew Research, also ran a number of successful campaigns.
A related theme this midterm season was voters’ support for populist, non-politician candidates, which hearkens back to some of the sentiments that helped Donald Trump gain supporters a decade ago.
This time, though, the messaging bolstered a blue wave.
Here are 22 newly elected representatives who have never held elected office—or, in some cases, any government roles at all.
GOVERNORS
- The closely watched race for Ohio governor was won by Dr. Amy Acton, a physician and former Ohio Department of Heath director. Billionaire Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy lost by about 8 percentage points following backlash that transcended party lines over a recent attack ad, which brought attention to sexual abuse the governor-elect experienced during childhood.
- Rhode Island’s governor-elect, Helena Foulkes, is a former CVS executive and a Costco board member. She also ran for governor in 2022, but lost in the primary.
SENATORS
- Dr. Amy Andrews, the first woman to win a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina, is a pediatrician who has spent almost two decades working in children’s hospitals.
- Pastor Adam Hamilton, leader of Resurrection, the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, won Kansas’s U.S. Senate race.
- Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who beat Mike Rogers for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, is an epidemiologist and former public health official, and holds a medical degree from Columbia University.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- Congressional races in Colorado went to U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Eileen Laubacher, who served on the National Security Council and as special assistant to the president under President Joe Biden; Jessica Killin, a U.S. Army captain and former USAA insurance executive, who was chief of staff to second gentleman Doug Emhoff; and lawyer Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist and member of Gen Z.
- Fred Wellman, an Army lieutenant colonel who served in the Gulf War and the Iraq War, and whose more recent endeavors include acting as executive director of the Lincoln Project PAC, won Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District.
- Sam Forstag, a U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper and labor organizer, won a congressional seat in Montana.
- New Jersey congressional districts were won by Iraq War U.S. Army veteran Dr. Adam Hamaway, a combat and reconstructive surgeon; and Rebecca Bennett, a U.S. Navy helicopter and test pilot and healthcare executive.
- North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District was won by Jamie Ager, a fourth-generation farmer.
- Navy Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, who had served 35 years in the military when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired her and two other military leaders without explanation last year, is leading (with 99% of ballots counted) in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District race at the time of this writing.
- In Ohio, congressional seats were won by Kristina Knickerbocker, a U.S. Air Force veteran and oncology nurse practitioner, and Don Leonard, a professor of city and regional planning.
- Pennsylvania’s congressional winners included Janelle Stelson, a longtime broadcast news anchor, and Bob Brooks, a firefighter and union leader.
- Three of Texas’s congressional seats were won by the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a Baptist pastor; Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia; and Tejano musician Bobby Pulido.
- Mitchell Berman, an emergency room nurse who has spent more than 23 years working in healthcare, won a U.S. House seat in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.