Five alumni to serve in the 116th Congress

Five Cornell alumni won congressional races in the Nov. 6 midterm election, including Sharice Davids, J.D. ’10, Democrat, who won in Kansas’ 3rd District.

Davids is the first openly gay Kansan elected to Congress, and she, along with Debra Haaland, (D-New Mexico), also elected Nov. 6, are the first two Native American women elected to Congress. After completing her degree at Cornell Law School, Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, worked as a White House fellow during the final year of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Also winning congressional races Nov. 6:

• Katherine Clark, J.D. ’89, Democrat, was re-elected to a fourth term in Massachusetts’ 5th District.
• Dan Meuser ’88, Republican, won a first term in Pennsylvania’s 9th District against Democrat Denny Wolff.
• Kurt Schrader ’73, Democrat, was re-elected to a sixth term in Oregon’s 5th District.
• Elissa Slotkin ’98, Democrat, won a first term in Michigan’s 8th District ousting Rep. Mike Bishop, Republican.

According to Corey Ryan Earle ’07, the five Cornellians who will serve in the upcoming 116th Congress will mark the most Cornellians serving in Congress since a brief period in 2013-14. It also is the first time three Cornell women, Clark, Davids and Slotkin, will be serving in Congress, he said.

In Cornell’s own district, New York state’s 23rd, Tracy Mitrano, J.D. ’95, Democrat, lost to incumbent Tom Reed, Republican.

Other Cornellians who ran unsuccessful bids to serve their districts in Congress: 

Susan Boser, Ph.D. ’01, Democrat, in Pennsylvania’s 15th District; Rick Green ’92, Republican, in Massachusetts’ 5th District; Jamie McLeod-Skinner, MRP ’95, Democrat, in Oregon’s 2nd District; and Rich Pezzullo ’80, Republican, in a bid for New Jersey’s 6th District.

In other races that included Cornell candidates:

• Political newcomer Zellnor Myrie, J.D. ’16, Democrat, was elected to the New York State Senate representing the state’s 20th district, which includes several neighborhoods in his native Brooklyn. Myrie won the Democratic primary in an upset over an incumbent and prevailed in the general election over the same incumbent, who ran as an independent.
• Cliff Crouch ’67, Republican, was re-elected to the New York State Assembly’s 122nd District.
• Andy Goodell, J.D. ’81, Republican, was re-elected to the New York State Assembly’s 150th District.
• Richard Gottfried ’68, Democrat, was re-elected to the New York State Assembly’s 75th District.
• Bill Magee ’61, Democrat, was defeated in his bid for re-election to the New York State Assembly’s 121st District.
• Bob Stefanowski, MBA ’92, Republican, conceded a close race for governor of Connecticut.

This article also appeared in Ezra.