There are 19 Lutherans — 10 Democrats and nine Republicans — in the 109th Congress of the United States, according to the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) in Washington, D.C.
LOGA is the public-policy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Of the 19 Lutherans in the new Congress, three are members of Missouri Synod congregations: Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.).
Reichert, formerly sheriff of King County (Seattle), was elected in September to his first term in the House of Representatives. He was featured in an article, “God’s Grace and the Green River Killer,” in the September Lutheran Witness.
One congressman, Rep. Ron Kind (R-Wis.), is a member of a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod congregation. The remaining 15 are members of ELCA congregations.
The three Lutherans in the U.S. Senate are Burns, Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.).
The 16 Lutherans in the U.S. House of Representatives are Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Lois Capps (D-Calif.), John R. Carter (R-Texas), Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash.), Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.), Kind, Tom Latham (R-Iowa), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.), Thomas E. Petri (R-Wis.), Reichert, Martin Olav Sabo (D-Minn.), Shimkus, and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).
Information for this article was provided by the ELCA News Service. — Ed.
Posted Dec. 27, 2004
