ELCA NEWS SERVICE January 8, 2009 Lutherans Take Office in 111th U.S. Congress 09-007-JD WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- Seven new U.S. Congressional members sworn into office Jan. 6 are Lutheran, bringing the overall total of Lutherans serving on Capitol Hill to 24. Among them are 15 Democrats and nine Republicans. Four are senators and 20 are members of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the advocacy staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Catholics make up 30 percent of the 111th U.S. Congress, according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Baptists form the second-largest group with 12 percent, followed by Methodists (11 percent), Presbyterians (8 percent), Episcopalians (7 percent) and Lutherans (4.5 percent). The only new Lutheran in the U.S. Senate -- Jeff Merkley, D- Ore. -- belongs to the ELCA, as do the three returning Lutheran senators: Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; and Tim Johnson, D-S.D. Three of the new Lutherans in the House of Representatives are ELCA members: Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Chellie Pingree, D- Maine; and Marc Schauer, D-Mich. Three others belong to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS): Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; and Erik Paulsen, R-Minn. Of the remaining Lutherans in the House, 11 are members of the ELCA, two belong to LCMS and two are members of Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). The ELCA members are: Lois Capps, D-Calif.; John R. Carter, R-Texas; Norman D. Dicks, D- Wash.; Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D.; Tom Latham, R-Iowa; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn.; Thomas Petri, R- Wis.; Bill Shuster, R-Pa.; and Tim Walz, D-Minn. The LCMS members are Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and John M. Shimkus, R-Ill. The WELS members are: Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Ron Kind, D-Wis. Dicks is the longest-serving Lutheran in Congress. He first took office in 1976. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., didn't seek re-election and is the only Lutheran in the 100th Congress not returning to office. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog