CU in Congress: Alumni in the House

Ever since John DeWitt Warner 1872 headed to Washington, D.C., in 1891 to serve as a representative from NYC, dozens of Cornellians have held seats in Congress, including five in the Senate and more than 50 in the House.

There are seven alumni in the 118th Congress. It is a modern Big Red high eclipsed only by the 112th Congress (2011–13), which included not only seven alums in the House, but also Mark Kirk ’81, who represented Illinois in the Senate.

Here’s a look at the alumni of the College of Arts and Sciences currently serving on the Hill:

Dan Meuser ’88

A Republican, the Arts & Sciences alum is in his third term representing Pennsylvania’s Ninth District, located in the east central part of the state.

Meuser has served on the Small Business and Foreign Affairs committees and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access. He has also been a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, the Republican Study Committee, the Border Security Caucus, the Congressional Coal Caucus, and the U.S.-China Working Group.

His priorities include revitalizing his district’s communities through jobs and economic growth; strengthening the district’s coal industry while also helping workers access training programs; and national and border security. Meuser attended New York Maritime University (now SUNY Maritime College) before transferring to Cornell on a Navy ROTC scholarship.

He was an executive at Pride Health Care, later known as Pride Mobility Products, a healthcare products manufacturer. In 2011, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett nominated him to serve as the state’s secretary of revenue; he led the department until he ran for Congress in 2018.

Beth Van Duyne ’95

The Arts & Sciences alum is a Republican in her second term representing Texas’s 24th District, which includes portions of Tarrant, Denton, and Dallas counties.

When she first won her seat in 2020, she became only the second Republican woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House. She has served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Small Business Committee as well as the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

Prior to her election to Congress, Van Duyne served as regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, overseeing Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas; as Mayor of Irving, Texas, from 2011 to 2017; and as an Irving city councilor.

She has also served as the Texas chair for the Community Leaders of America, was on the board of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and ran an executive consulting business.

Read about these and other Cornell alumni in Congress in Cornellians.