House Republicans enjoyed a drama-free leadership election Wednesday and injected some newfound diversity into a party that feared being labeled as dominated by southern white men just a few years ago.
While John Boehner was nominated for speaker and Eric Cantor was elected majority leader, incoming freshmen Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Tim Scott of South Carolina will be on the Elected Leadership Committee, an important decision-making body in the House Republican Conference. Noem will join conference vice chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington as the second woman on the GOP’s leadership team.
“I am honored that my freshman class colleagues have put their trust in me to represent our historic class at the leadership table,” Noem said in a release. “The incoming freshman class of representatives is large and diverse but we share many common goals including cutting wasteful spending, getting our economy back on track and making government smarter and more efficient. We didn’t come here to become Washington, we came here to change Washington.”
