The U.S. Senate’s freshman class will have a familiar name come January: Mitt Romney J.D./M.B.A. ’75.
The former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate won election Nov. 6 as the junior Senator from Utah.
Romney will join seven other alumni in the Senate, including those who were up for reelection this year: Tim Kaine ’83 (D-VA), who in 2016 lost his bid to become the first Harvard Law School graduate elected vice president, and Ted Cruz ’95, (R-Texas), who beat challenger Beto O’Rourke. Former Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also won reelection and is now reportedly mulling a potential presidential bid in 2020.
Four other HLS alumni serving in the U.S. Senate were not up for re-election: Tom Cotton ’02 (R-Ark.), Jack Reed ’82 (D-R.I.), Chuck Schumer ’74 (D-N.Y) and Mark Warner ’80 (D-Va.).
In the House, at least two alumni will be part of the newly elected Democratic majority. Andy Levin ’94 (D-MI) won the seat previously occupied by his father Sander Levin ’57, who will retire at the end of the current Congress.
The resume of Antonio Delgado ’05 (D-NY), includes time as a Rhodes Scholar, independent music label founder and Big Law associate.
A third alumnus running for the first time, Katie Porter ’01 (D-CA) won California’s 45th Congressional District over two-term Republican incumbent Mimi Walters.
Several other HLS alumni won their U.S. House re-election races: Anthony Brown ’92 (D-MD) District 4, Joaquin Castro ’00 (D-TX), Jim Cooper ’80 (D-TN), Josh Gottheimer ’04 (D-NJ), Raja Krishnamoorthi ’00 (D-IL), Joseph Kennedy III ’09 (D-MA), Jamie Raskin ’87 (D-MD) District 8, John Sarbanes ’88 (D-MD) District 4, Adam Schiff ’85 (D-Calif.) District 28, Terri Sewell ’92 (D-AL) District 7, Brad Sherman ’79 (D-Calif.) District 30 and Juan Vargas ’91 (D-CA), District 51.
Two alumni were defeated: Jay Webber ’00 who ran as a Republican against Democrat Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, and Republican Robert Flanders ’74, who lost to incumbent Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island’s Senate race.