LegiStorm

Republican Latinas didn't dominate last week's House elections as many predicted. Nonetheless, the next session of Congress could once again become the most racially diverse in House history.

With several races not yet called, people of color so far make up one-third of the House's incoming freshman class, according to a LegiStorm review. Non-white representatives so far comprise only 16% of incoming Republican representatives. But among newly elected Democrats, non-white representatives make up a new majority at 55%.

For both parties, the incoming freshman class's women are more racially diverse than its men. Among freshman women, 62% of Democrats and 43% of Republicans are nonwhite. Non-white representatives are on track to comprise half of newly elected Democratic men and 10% of newly elected Republican men.

Each Congress since the 112th has broken the previous session's record for the most racially diverse member makeup. Non-white members currently make up 10% of Republican representatives and 45% of Democrats - 28% of the House's current membership.

Rep. Lou Correa's (D-Calif.) new chief of staff is no stranger to the revolving door.

René Muñoz joined Correa's office comes from Federal Street Strategies, where his big-name lobbying clients included Amazon, Wells Fargo, Apple and the National Association of Broadcasters. He was previously chief of staff to then-Reps. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), whose office he joined after a lobbying stint with Univision Communications (now TelevisaUnivision).

Muñoz has also worked for the U.S. Census Bureau as chief of congressional and intergovernmental affairs and was a deputy assistant U.S. trade representative for congressional affairs under Barack Obama. His extensive Hill career has also included serving as chief to then-Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Texas) and as legislative director to Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).

A GOP policy adviser has moved from the Hill to agrochemical company Corteva.

Turner Bridgforth comes from the office of Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), where he was a senior policy adviser handling agriculture, appropriations and natural resources, among other issues. He joined Corteva this month as a government and industry affairs manager. The company was formed from DowDupont's 2019 spinoffs into Dow, DuPont and Corteva.

Bridgforth has also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and for then-Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.).

A staffer to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) has moved to defense contractor Elbit Systems of America.

Katie Myers is now a government-relations manager at Elbit America, whose D.C. lobbying interests span a host of defense and border issues. Parent company Elbit Systems Ltd. brought in nearly $5.3 billion in revenue in 2021 and is one of Israel's largest defense contractors.

Myers most recently worked as a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who sits on the Appropriations Committee. She previously worked for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Myers recently obtained a master's degree in military and operational art and science from the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College.

News Corp. has added a Senate Judiciary Committee attorney to its federal-affairs team, just as the Murdoch family explores re-merging the publishing giant with Fox Corp.

Rachel Bissex is now vice president for federal government affairs at News Corp., the print-news publisher that the Murdoch family split in 2013 from what is now Fox Corp. Last month, the two media organizations began a process to consider re-merging, reportedly at the behest of Rupert Murdoch, executive chair of News Corp. and chair of Fox Corp. News Corp.'s publications include the Wall Street Journal and The Sun; Fox Corp. owns Fox News Media and Fox Television Stations, among other assets.

Bissex joined News Corp. from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she was most recently senior counsel under ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). She's also worked for Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and for the Department of Justice as deputy chief of staff and counselor to then-Attorney General Bill Barr. The DOJ and Federal Trade Commission are jointly in charge of reviewing business mergers.