119th Congress Brings New Growth in Racial, Ethnic Diversity to Capitol Hill

Just over a quarter (26%) of voting members in the U.S. Congress identify as a race or ethnicity other than non-Hispanic White, making the 119th Congress the most racially and ethnically diverse to date. {snip}

Overall, 139 of today’s senators and representatives identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American or Native American, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from CQ Roll Call and the Congressional Research Service. This number has nearly doubled in the two decades since the 109th Congress of 2005-07, which had 73 members belonging to racial or ethnic minorities.

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In all, 28% of House members are Black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American, the same as in the previous Congress. No current voting members are Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

The 119th House includes five multiracial representatives – all Democrats. {snip}

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In the upper chamber of Congress, 16 senators are racial or ethnic minorities, an increase from 12 in the 118th Congress. Seven senators are Hispanic, five are Black, three are Asian and one is Native American.

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Despite growing racial and ethnic diversity on Capitol Hill, non-Hispanic White people make up a larger share of Congress than of the overall U.S. population (74% vs. 58%). This gap is about as wide as it was in 1981, when 94% of congressional lawmakers were White, compared with 80% of the U.S. population.

In the House, representation of some racial and ethnic groups is now on par with their share of the total U.S. population, while others continue to lag. For example, 14% of House members are Black, the same as the total share of Black Americans. And Native Americans and Alaska Natives now make up about 1% of both the House and the U.S. population. {snip}

On the other hand, the share of Hispanic representatives in Congress is much lower than the Hispanic share of the U.S. population (11% vs. 20%). Asian Americans, meanwhile, account for 4% of House members and 6% of the national population.