Eleven first-term Democrats have been assigned to the House Agriculture Committee, representing districts stretching from North Carolina to Hawaii.
They will join nine returning committee Democrats, led by ranking member David Scott of Georgia. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a third-term Democrat from a farming and meatpacking background in Michigan, also got a seat on the panel.
Among the new members approved by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee are three from Illinois, including Rep. Jonathan Jackson, son of former presidential candidate and activist Jesse Jackson, and two from Texas.
Republicans have 12 new members, although not all in their first term; one is a former Ag chairman, Frank Lucas, R-Okla. There are 16 returning GOP members, including Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, who was added back to the committee this week. Feenstra had to get a waiver to return to Ag, because he was awarded a seat on Ways and Means, which oversees tax and trade policy.
The other new Democrats on the Ag Committee are:
- Yadira Caraveo of Colorado
- Andrea Salinas of Oregon
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington
- Don Davis of North Carolina
- Jill Tokuda of Hawaii
- Nikki Budzinski of Illinois
- Eric Sorensen of Illinois
- Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico
- Jasmine Crockett of Texas
- Greg Casar of Texas
The returning Democrats in addition to Scott are Jim Costa of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Alma Adams of North Carolina, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, Shontel Brown of Ohio, Stacey Plaskett (delegate) of the Virgin Islands and Sharice Davids of Kansas.
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The first-term Republicans joining the Ag Committee, announced earlier in January, include Nick Langworthy and Marc Molinaro of New York, Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Mark Alford of Missouri, Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, John Duarte of California, Max Miller of Ohio, Zach Nunn of Iowa and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.
Next month, the committee is expected to begin holding listening sessions and then committee hearings in preparation for writing a new farm bill later in the year.
The House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees public lands issues, added four new Democrats, Kevin Mullin of California, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California, and Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island.
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