List of new members of the 96th United States Congress

The 96th United States Congress began on January 3, 1979. There were 12 new senators (seven Democrats, five Republicans) and 77 new representatives (42 Democrats, 34 Republicans, one Conservative), as well as one new delegate (a Republican), at the start of the first session. Additionally, four senators (one Democrat, three Republicans) and seven representatives (four Democrats, three Republicans) took office on various dates in order to fill vacancies during the 96th Congress before it ended on January 3, 1981.

Senate

Took office January 3, 1979

State	Image	Senator	Seniority	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year	Ref
Alabama		Howell Heflin (D)	10th (98th overall)	No Open seat; replaced John Sparkman (D)	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama U.S. Marine Corps Major	1921	[1]
Arkansas		David Pryor (D)	1st (89th overall)	No Open seat; replaced Kaneaster Hodges Jr. (D)	Governor of Arkansas U.S. House of Representatives[a] Arkansas House of Representatives	1934	[2]
Colorado		William L. Armstrong (R)	4th (92nd overall)	Yes Defeated Floyd Haskell (D)	U.S. House of Representatives[b] President of the Colorado Senate Colorado House of Representatives Colorado Army National Guard	1937	[3]
Iowa		Roger Jepsen (R)	11th (99th overall)	Yes Defeated Dick Clark (D)	Lieutenant Governor of Iowa Iowa Senate Scott County Commission U.S. Army Reserve Captain	1928	[4]
Maine		William Cohen (R)	2nd (90th overall)	Yes Defeated William Hathaway (D)	U.S. House of Representatives[c] Mayor of Bangor	1940	[5]
Massachusetts		Paul Tsongas (D)	3rd (91st overall)	Yes Defeated Edward Brooke (R)	U.S. House of Representatives[d] Middlesex County Commission Lowell City Council	1941	[6]
Michigan		Carl Levin (D)	8th (96th overall)	Yes Defeated Robert P. Griffin (R)	President of the Detroit City Council	1934	[7]
Nebraska		J. James Exon (D)	7th (95th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Carl Curtis (R)	Governor of Nebraska U.S. Army Signal Corps	1921	[8]
New Hampshire		Gordon J. Humphrey (R)	12th (100th overall)	Yes Defeated Thomas J. McIntyre (D)	Professional pilot U.S. Air Force	1940	[9]
New Jersey		Bill Bradley (D)	9th (97th overall)	Yes Replaced Clifford P. Case (R), who was defeated in a primary	Professional basketball player Air Force Reserve Command	1943	[10]
Oklahoma		David Boren (D)	6th (94th overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced Dewey F. Bartlett (R)	Governor of Oklahoma Oklahoma House of Representatives Oklahoma Army National Guard	1941	[11]
South Dakota		Larry Pressler (R)	5th (93rd overall)	Yes Open seat; replaced James Abourezk (D)	U.S. House of Representatives[e] U.S. Army First Lieutenant	1942	[12]

Took office during the 96th Congress

State	Image	Senator	Took office	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year	Ref
Maine		George J. Mitchell (D)	May 17, 1980	No Appointed; replaced Edmund Muskie (D)	U.S. District Court Judge for Maine U.S. Attorney for Maine	1933	[13]
New Hampshire		Warren Rudman (R)	December 29, 1980	Yes Defeated John A. Durkin (D)	Attorney General of New Hampshire	1930	[14]
Florida		Paula Hawkins (R)	January 1, 1981	Yes Replaced Richard Stone (D), who was defeated in a primary	Florida Public Service Commission Vice President of Air Florida	1927	[15]
Alabama		Jeremiah Denton (R)	January 2, 1981	Yes Replaced Donald Stewart (D), who was defeated in a primary	U.S. Navy Rear Admiral	1924	[16]

House of Representatives

Took office January 3, 1979

District	Representative	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year	Ref
Alabama 7	Richard Shelby (D)	No	State Senator	1934	[17]
Arkansas 2	Ed Bethune (R)	Yes	Prosecutor	1935	[18]
Arkansas 4	Beryl Anthony Jr. (D)	No	Prosecutor	1938	[19]
California 3	Bob Matsui (D)	No	City Councillor	1941	[20]
California 4	Vic Fazio (D)	No	State Assemblyman	1942	[21]
California 14	Norman D. Shumway (R)	Yes	County Supervisor	1934	[22]
California 15	Tony Coelho (D)	No	Congressional staffer	1942	[23]
California 17	Chip Pashayan (R)	Yes	U.S. DHHS official	1941	[24]
California 18	Bill Thomas (R)	No	State Assemblyman	1941	[25]
California 28	Julian Dixon (D)	No	State Assemblyman	1934	[26]
California 33	Wayne R. Grisham (R)	No	Mayor of La Mirada	1923	[27]
California 34	Dan Lungren (R)	Yes	Lawyer	1946	[28]
California 37	Jerry Lewis (R)	No	State Assemblyman	1934	[29]
California 39	William E. Dannemeyer (R)	No	State Assemblyman	1929	[30]
Colorado 3	Ray Kogovsek (D)	No	State Senator	1941	[31]
Colorado 5	Ken Kramer (R)	No	State Representative	1942	[32]
Connecticut 5	William R. Ratchford (D)	Yes	State House Speaker	1934	[33]
Florida 1	Earl Hutto (D)	No	State Representative	1926	[34]
Florida 9	Bill Nelson (D)	Yes	State Representative	1942	[35]
Florida 11	Dan Mica (D)	No	Chief of staff	1944	[36]
Florida 12	Edward J. Stack (D)	Yes	County Sheriff	1910	[37]
Georgia 6	Newt Gingrich (R)	Yes	Professor	1943	[38]
Illinois 1	Bennett Stewart (D)	No	City Councillor	1912	[39]
Illinois 22	Dan Crane (R)	Yes	Dentist	1936	[40]
Indiana 8	H. Joel Deckard (R)	Yes	State Representative	1942	[41]
Iowa 2	Tom Tauke (R)	Yes	State Representative	1950	[42]
Kansas 2	James Edmund Jeffries (R)	Yes	Corporate director	1925	[43]
Kansas 5	Bob Whittaker (R)	No	State Representative	1939	[44]
Kentucky 6	Larry J. Hopkins (R)	Yes	State Senator	1933	[45]
Louisiana 4	Buddy Leach (D)	No	State Representative	1934	[46]
Maine 2	Olympia Snowe (R)	No	State Senator	1947	[47]
Maryland 6	Beverly Byron (D)	No	Political organizer	1932	[48]
Maryland 8	Michael D. Barnes (D)	Yes	Public Service Commissioner	1943	[49]
Massachusetts 5	James Shannon (D)	No	Congressional aide	1952	[50]
Massachusetts 6	Nicholas Mavroules (D)	No	Mayor of Peabody	1929	[51]
Massachusetts 11	Brian J. Donnelly (D)	No	State Representative	1946	[52]
Michigan 3	Howard Wolpe (D)	Yes	State Representative	1939	[53]
Michigan 10	Donald J. Albosta (D)	Yes	State Representative	1925	[54]
Michigan 11	Robert William Davis (R)	No	State Senator	1932	[55]
Minnesota 1	Arlen Erdahl (R)	No	Minnesota Secretary of State	1931	[56]
Minnesota 5	Martin Olav Sabo (DFL)	No	State House Speaker	1938	[57]
Mississippi 4	Jon Hinson (R)	No	Congressional aide	1942	[58]
Montana 1	Pat Williams (D)	No	State Representative	1937	[59]
Nebraska 1	Doug Bereuter (R)	No	State Senator	1939	[60]
New Jersey 13	Jim Courter (R)	Yes	Lawyer	1941	[61]
New Jersey 14	Frank Joseph Guarini (D)	No	State Senator	1924	[62]
New York 1	William Carney (C)	Yes[f]	County Legislator	1942	[63]
New York 9	Geraldine Ferraro (D)	No	Lawyer	1935	[64]
New York 23	Peter A. Peyser (D)	Yes	U.S. Representative[g]	1921	[65]
New York 29	Gerald Solomon (R)	Yes	State Assemblyman	1930	[66]
New York 33	Gary A. Lee (R)	No	State Assemblyman	1933	[67]
Ohio 3	Tony P. Hall (D)	Yes	State Senator	1942	[68]
Ohio 19	Lyle Williams (R)	Yes	County Commissioner	1942	[69]
Oklahoma 2	Mike Synar (D)	No	Real estate broker	1950	[70]
Pennsylvania 2	William H. Gray III (D)	No	Minister	1941	[71]
Pennsylvania 4	Charles F. Dougherty (R)	Yes	State Senator	1937	[72]
Pennsylvania 15	Donald L. Ritter (R)	Yes	Metallurgical engineer	1940	[73]
Pennsylvania 21	Donald A. Bailey (D)	No	Lawyer	1945	[74]
Pennsylvania 23	William Clinger (R)	Yes	Lawyer	1929	[75]
Pennsylvania 25	Eugene Atkinson (D)	Yes[h]	County Commissioner	1927	[76]
South Carolina 4	Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (R)	Yes	State Senator	1940	[77]
South Dakota 1	Tom Daschle (D)	No	Congressional aide	1947	[78]
Tennessee 5	Bill Boner (D)	No	State Senator	1945	[79]
Texas 6	Phil Gramm (D)	No	Professor	1942	[80]
Texas 11	Marvin Leath (D)	No	Businessman	1931	[81]
Texas 14	Joseph P. Wyatt Jr. (D)	No	State Representative	1941	[82]
Texas 17	Charles Stenholm (D)	No	Business executive	1938	[83]
Texas 18	Mickey Leland (D)	No	State Representative	1944	[84]
Texas 19	Kent Hance (D)	No	State Senator	1942	[85]
Texas 21	Tom Loeffler (R)	Yes	Assistant to President Gerald Ford	1946	[86]
Texas 22	Ron Paul (R)	Yes	U.S. Representative[i]	1935	[87]
Texas 24	Martin Frost (D)	No	Lawyer	1942	[88]
Washington 2	Al Swift (D)	No	Broadcaster	1935	[89]
Washington 7	Mike Lowry (D)	Yes	County Councilor	1939	[90]
Wisconsin 8	Toby Roth (R)	Yes	State Assemblyman	1938	[91]
Wisconsin 9	Jim Sensenbrenner (R)	No	State Senator	1943	[92]
Wyoming at-large	Dick Cheney (R)	Yes	White House Chief of Staff	1941	[93]

Non-voting members

District	Delegate	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year	Ref
U.S. Virgin Islands at-large	Melvin H. Evans (R)	Yes	Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands	1917	[94]

Took office during the 96th Congress

District	Representative	Took office	Switched party	Prior background	Birth year	Ref
California 11	William Royer (R)	April 3, 1979	Yes	County Supervisor	1920	[95]
Wisconsin 6	Tom Petri (R)	April 3, 1979	No	State Senator	1940	[96]
Illinois 10	John Porter (R)	January 22, 1980	Yes	State Representative	1935	[97]
Pennsylvania 11	Ray Musto (D)	September 9, 1980	No	State Representative	1929	[98]
Louisiana 3	Billy Tauzin (D)	May 22, 1980	Yes[j]	State Representative	1943	[99]
West Virginia 3	John G. Hutchinson (D)	June 30, 1980	No	Mayor of Charleston	1935	[100]
Michigan 13	George Crockett Jr. (D)	November 4, 1980	No	Jurist	1909	[101]

See also

• List of United States senators in the 96th Congress
• List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 96th Congress by seniority

Notes

1. Elected to the 89th Congress, serving from 1966 to 1973 in Arkansas's 4th district.
2. Elected to the 93rd Congress, serving from 1973 to 1979 in Colorado's 5th district.
3. Elected to the 93rd Congress, serving from 1973 to 1979 in Maine's 2nd district.
4. Elected to the 94th Congress, serving from 1975 to 1979 in Massachusetts's 5th district.
5. Elected to the 94th Congress, serving from 1975 to 1979 in South Dakota's 1st district.
6. Carney joined the Republican Party in October 1985, during the 99th Congress.
7. Previously elected to the 92nd Congress, serving from 1971 to 1977.
8. Atkinson joined the Republican Party in October 1981, during the 97th Congress.
9. Previously elected to the 94th Congress, serving from 1976 to 1977.
10. Tauzin joined the Republican Party in August 1995, during the 104th Congress.