Meet Pennsylvania’s new members of Congress who took the oath today

WASHINGTON — Moments before he was sworn in to the 119th Congress, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie ducked outside of the House floor to see his 9-month old son, Leo, who gazed up at the gilded, domed ceiling.

“After a very long, hard-fought campaign it’s great to be here to actually start working on the people’s business,” said Mackenzie, a Republican who represents the Lehigh Valley.

Pennsylvania’s 17-person U.S. House delegation gained two Republican members Friday as Mackenzie and fellow freshman U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan took their oaths. Their entry into Congress increased the number of Pennsylvania Republicans in the U.S. House to 10. There are seven Pennsylvania Democrats in the House.

Republicans rode a red wave to win all three of the state’s most competitive House races, with U.S. Rep. Scott Perry holding onto his central Pennsylvania seat and Mackenzie and Bresnahan ousting two Democratic incumbents — former U.S. Reps. Susan Wild, who served three terms, and Matt Cartwright, who served six terms.

The new lawmakers took their oaths Friday after a brief lag in electing Speaker Mike Johnson to the post again.

“It’s surreal, very fast-moving, humbling, overwhelming, emotional all at once,” Bresnahan said outside of the House chamber just before walking in with U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Lebanon).

Pennsylvania’s entire GOP delegation voted for Johnson in the first ballot, including Perry, who had expressed some skepticism surrounding Johnson in the lead-up to the vote.

Democrats were at full attendance with U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans back to vote for the first time since a May stroke.

The chamber is narrowly controlled by Republicans this year by the slimmest margin in history and the opening day illustrated the difficulty that will bring. Republicans enter the new Congress with 219 House seats to Democrats’ 215 (one seat in Florida is currently vacant after former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s resignation).

“With a razor-thin majority in the House, those two seats that came out of Pennsylvania are critical,” GOP strategist Charlie Gerow said, predicting Bresnahan and Mackenzie will be “key players” in Washington.

The two men represent some of the most purple parts of the state. Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania voters shifted rightward in the presidential election and, more narrowly, in their votes for Congress electing Mackenzie, 44, and Bresnahan, 34.

“It’s indicative of the direction of this region,” GOP political consultant Vince Galko said of his party’s victories there. “And they’ll both lower the average age of Congress, which is a good thing.”

Both races were extremely tight with the Democrats outperforming Vice President Kamala Harris. Bresnahan won by just 1.6 percentage points and Mackenzie by about one point.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania’s political pendulum swung to Republicans in 2024. Will it stay there?

Bresnahan brought his fiancée, Chelsea Strub, his parents, and grandmother to Capitol Hill for his swearing-in. The businessman defeated Cartwright in Northeast Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, which includes Wayne, Pike, and Lackawanna Counties, as well as part of Luzerne County.

A fifth-generation Northeast Pennsylvanian, Bresnahan lives in Dallas in Luzerne County and touted his connections to the area during his campaign — even mentioning he has a plot reserved in a local cemetery. He is the CEO of his family’s electrical contracting company and founded RPB Ventures to rehabilitate downtown Pittston buildings.

The first-time candidate campaigned on border security, lowering government spending, and cutting taxes. He said he will not support cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits, or raising the retirement age.

Bresnahan said in an interview last month he is ready to deliver Trump’s agenda but wants to “weigh it case by case,” with border security being his top priority. He supports finishing the border wall and wants to make sure border patrol agents have the necessary resources to stop fentanyl from coming into the country.

He said he would join the House’s bipartisan Problem Solver Caucus, which is cochaired by U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, (R., Pa.). U.S. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Pa.,) and Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) are also members.

Bresnahan said “there’s not an R or a D next to my name; the letters are NEPA,” referencing the acronym for Northeast Pennsylvania.

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Mackenzie, who served 12 years in the state House, ousted Wild in the Lehigh Valley’s 7th Congressional District, which includes Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon Counties, as well as a small portion of southwestern Monroe County.

In a brief interview holding his young son, Mackenzie said he was eager to focus on economic issues, like inflation, and border security. He will serve on the Education & Workforce, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security committees.

Despite a few GOP holdouts on the initial speaker vote, Mackenzie said he was optimistic the Republican Party would be a united body. “When you see 215 out of 218 people voting together right out of the gate, that is a very unified party,” he said.

Mackenzie traces his lineage in the region back nine generations to when his ancestors joined the Northampton County Militia to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012, and he lives in Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County.

Mackenzie said after his win that he is determined to pass legislation on immigration, the economy, and foreign policy but is mindful of obstacles that may stand in Republicans’ way. He said he hopes Trump will take action through executive order on issues like immigration.

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Mackenzie, who has an MBA from Harvard Business School, said he wants to “expand the required use” of E-Verify to make sure only those with legal documentation are employed. He said he will encourage energy production and oppose plans “that prioritize a radical climate agenda over the realities of safe, clean, affordable American energy.”

Mackenzie in October announced a package of bills in the state House including ones he sponsored to create a paid family and medical leave tax credit, require the use of E-Verify, and protect health-care workers reporting workplace violence.

He also said in his campaign he wants to fund the hiring of more officers for U.S. Customs and Border protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and punish doctors who overprescribe opioids.