Meet Congress' Class of 2010

To see how Tuesday's midterm rout will change the face of Congress, look no farther than the Bible Belt of southwest Missouri. Voters replaced Rep. Roy Blunt, a savvy insider, with Billy Long, a smack-talking auctioneer with no college degree but a pithy slogan: "Fed Up."

Missourians promoted Blunt to the Senate, where more than half of the 16 incoming freshmen have law degrees and all but two are grizzled political veterans.

In an election in which nearly one-quarter of Congress turned over, the Senate remained a refuge for the establishment elite, and the new House became more of an everyman's roost.

There's a pizzeria owner and former home-economics teacher, a former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman and an Iraq veteran who was the target of an assassination plot, a former hockey referee, a pottery maker, a gospel singer and a one-time prodigy portrait artist.

But the more than 100 newly elected lawmakers who soon will descend on Capitol Hill collectively do not look like America. Flipping through portraits, you see a blur of white men. Ninety-seven are men; 12 are women. Although 10 House contests and one Senate race remain too close to call, this might be the first election cycle in 32 years when the number of women in Congress does not increase.

Of 16 new senators, New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte is the lone female.

"I hadn't actually thought about it until you just said it," Ayotte said Wednesday from her Nashua home. Her 6-year-old, Katharine, and 3-year-old, Jacob, played in the background.

"I think we're at a time where it's great to see people from all different backgrounds stepping up to lead the country," said Ayotte, a former state attorney general whom endorser Sarah Palin dubbed a "granite grizzly." "We're a middle-class, small-business family, and that's a perspective where essentially we're facing most of the challenges that most everyday Americans are facing."

The Class of 2010 is less diverse than the country in other ways, as well. Six are African Americans (two of them Republicans); three are Latino (including Jaime Herrera in Washington's District 3). There is a one Asian American and one Arab American, a Christian whose parents are Palestinian. There are two Jews, one Buddhist and no Muslims.

The freshmen range in age from 30 (Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan) to 67 (Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida). Although many of the newcomers ousted incumbents, some replaced retiring members of their parties. Twelve freshmen are Democrats; 97 are Republicans. As of Wednesday night, 10 House races and two Senate races remained undecided.

About nine in every 10 new members have children, many of them school age. Republican Bobby Schilling, who defeated Democratic Rep. Phil Hare in an Illinois prairie district, has 10. The political novice is giving up his day job at Saint Giuseppe's Heavenly Pizza to come to Washington.

Like Schilling, several incoming House members are small-business owners who said they became involved in politics because of what they saw as red-tape intrusions by the government.

In Colorado, Republican Scott Tipton of Cortez started a business that makes Native American pottery and jewelry. But after reportedly spending hours filling out government forms saying how many thousands of pounds of clay the company used, Tipton became a vocal critic of government intrusion. He ran for Congress and unseated Democratic Rep. John Salazar.

In Indiana, Marlin Stutzman, 34, shaped his political views by listening to conservative talk radio while tending to his family's farm. He reportedly became involved in local politics out of frustration with state regulations governing his tractor business. He will replace Republican Rep. Mark Souder, who resigned in May after admitting to an extramarital affair with a female aide.

To be sure, more than a few freshmen have held office. In the Senate, six are former House members, and two recently served as governor. Kentucky ophthalmologist Rand Paul and Wisconsin plastics executive Ron Johnson, both Republicans, are the only two without government service.

In the House, dozens have political pedigrees, including Arizona Republican Ben Quayle, 33-year-old son of former Vice President Dan Quayle. About 35 House freshmen have law degrees, including Republican Rob Woodall who, after spending 16 years as a senior aide to Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., is succeeding his retiring boss.

Women did break ground as state executives. Three states elected a female governor for the first time, all Republican. Women who campaigned with Palin's backing broke barriers. Among the "Mama Grizzlies" who won were South Carolina Republican Nikki Haley, who became both the first woman and Indian-American governor there, and Republican Susana Martinez, the first Hispanic woman elected governor in New Mexico.

But it is in Congress where women's advocates said the election represents a setback. Several high-profile Republican women — California's Carly Fiorina, Nevada's Sharron Angle, Connecticut's Linda McMahon and Delaware's Christine O'Donnell — lost. Voters ousted Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and at least seven House members.

"Our political institutions in the United States remain bastions of male dominance," said Jennifer Lawless, director of Women and Politics Institute at American University. "It's actually unbelievable."

Sometimes, though, change breaks through in unexpected ways.

For the first time, Alabama voters picked a black woman to represent them in Congress. She is Democrat Terri Sewell, a Birmingham lawyer who went to Princeton, Harvard and Oxford universities. And two of the GOP's new rising stars are proud prairie women.

Vicky Hartzler, who toppled longtime Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., is a former home-economics teacher who raises corn, soybeans and cattle on a family farm. She published "Running God's Way," a step-by-step guide for Christian political candidates.

There's also Kristi Noem, who defeated Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin for South Dakota's lone House seat. Noem runs a ranch, where she rides horses, herds cattle, hunts elk, shoots prairie dogs and dresses pheasants.

Asked what she is doing to prepare for the move to Washington, Noem said: "We're going to live on our ranch in Castlewood, but I will have to find a place to stay in D.C. Our family's not moving. I'll just be traveling back and forth."

Information from Seattle Times staff is included in this report.