The 111th US Congress is slated to have 46 Jewish members. Three Jewish newcomers were elected to the House of Representatives in Tuesday's elections. One of the new representatives is Jared Polis, 33, of Colorado, who made history as the first openly homosexual man to run and be elected to the House.
Three Jewish senators ran for reelection, and two Democrats managed to keep their seats: the veteran senator Carl Levin of Michigan and 84-year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. Two Jewish candidates from Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken, who starred in the past in late-night series 'Saturday Night Live', were separated by a hair's breadth, automatically leading to a recount. Some 2.9 million people voted in the election between the two, with Coleman winning by 571 votes.
All the six Jewish Democratic representatives who have only been serving in the House of Representatives for one term managed to keep their seats: Steve Kagan of Wisconsin, Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, Ron Klein of Florida, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Steve Cohen of Tennessee.