The majority leader in the U.S. Senate and one of the most tenured Republican senators are two of the 14 Church members serving the 111th United States Congress this year.
Now serving his fourth term, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., returned as incumbent Senate majority leader. He was elected two years ago at the start of 110th U.S. Congress as the floor leader and chief Senate spokesman for the Democratic Party.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is among the half-dozen most senior members of the U.S. Senate — he is one of the Republican Party's two longest-serving senators who both were first elected in 1976. Sen. Hatch is in his sixth six-year term of office.
The Church's 14-member total in the U.S. Congress — five in the Senate and nine in the House of Representatives — is two fewer than the 16 Church members who served in the 110th Congress that served in 2007 and 2008.
Once again, five of the 100 U.S. senators — or 5 percent of the Senate — are members of the Church.
New to the U.S. Senate is Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who won his Senate race last November after previously serving as a U.S. Representative from New Mexico. He is the first Latter-day Saint to serve as senator from his state.
Other Church members in the Senate include Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, serving his third term; and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; serving his second term.
There are nine members of the House of Representatives in the 111th Congress, two fewer than before, with one first-time congressman — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah — joining eight peers who returned after re-election.
They include Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., serving his 12th term; Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., serving his ninth term; Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, serving his sixth term; Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., serving his fifth term; Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, serving his fifth term; Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, serving his fourth term; and Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., serving his second term.
Also, Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, is one of five territorial representatives in the House. He is in his 12th term as American Samoa's nonvoting delegate.
