# List of new members of the 96th United States Congress

The 96th United States Congress began on January 3, 1979. There were 12 new senators (seven Democrats, five Republicans) and 77 new representatives (42 Democrats, 34 Republicans, one Conservative), as well as one new delegate (a Republican), at the start of the first session. Additionally, four senators (one Democrat, three Republicans) and seven representatives (four Democrats, three Republicans) took office on various dates in order to fill vacancies during the 96th Congress before it ended on January 3, 1981.

## Senate
### Took office January 3, 1979

| State | Senator | Seniority | Switched party | Prior background | Birth year |
| Alabama | Howell Heflin (D) | 10th (98th overall) | No Open seat; replaced John Sparkman (D) | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama U.S. Marine Corps Major | 1921 |
| Arkansas | David Pryor (D) | 1st (89th overall) | No Open seat; replaced Kaneaster Hodges Jr. (D) | Governor of Arkansas U.S. House of Representatives Arkansas House of Representatives | 1934 |
| Colorado | William L. Armstrong (R) | 4th (92nd overall) | Yes Defeated Floyd Haskell (D) | U.S. House of Representatives President of the Colorado Senate Colorado House of Representatives Colorado Army National Guard | 1937 |
| Iowa | Roger Jepsen (R) | 11th (99th overall) | Yes Defeated Dick Clark (D) | Lieutenant Governor of Iowa Iowa Senate Scott County Commission U.S. Army Reserve Captain | 1928 |
| Maine | William Cohen (R) | 2nd (90th overall) | Yes Defeated William Hathaway (D) | U.S. House of Representatives Mayor of Bangor | 1940 |
| Massachusetts | Paul Tsongas (D) | 3rd (91st overall) | Yes Defeated Edward Brooke (R) | U.S. House of Representatives Middlesex County Commission Lowell City Council | 1941 |
| Michigan | Carl Levin (D) | 8th (96th overall) | Yes Defeated Robert P. Griffin (R) | President of the Detroit City Council | 1934 |
| Nebraska | J. James Exon (D) | 7th (95th overall) | Yes Open seat; replaced Carl Curtis (R) | Governor of Nebraska U.S. Army Signal Corps | 1921 |
| New Hampshire | Gordon J. Humphrey (R) | 12th (100th overall) | Yes Defeated Thomas J. McIntyre (D) | Professional pilot U.S. Air Force | 1940 |
| New Jersey | Bill Bradley (D) | 9th (97th overall) | Yes Replaced Clifford P. Case (R), who was defeated in a primary | Professional basketball player Air Force Reserve Command | 1943 |
| Oklahoma | David Boren (D) | 6th (94th overall) | Yes Open seat; replaced Dewey F. Bartlett (R) | Governor of Oklahoma Oklahoma House of Representatives Oklahoma Army National Guard | 1941 |
| South Dakota | Larry Pressler (R) | 5th (93rd overall) | Yes Open seat; replaced James Abourezk (D) | U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Army First Lieutenant | 1942 |

### Took office during the 96th Congress

| State | Senator | Took office | Switched party | Prior background | Birth year |
| Maine | George J. Mitchell (D) | May 17, 1980 | No Appointed; replaced Edmund Muskie (D) | U.S. District Court Judge for Maine U.S. Attorney for Maine | 1933 |
| New Hampshire | Warren Rudman (R) | December 29, 1980 | Yes Defeated John A. Durkin (D) | Attorney General of New Hampshire | 1930 |
| Florida | Paula Hawkins (R) | January 1, 1981 | Yes Replaced Richard Stone (D), who was defeated in a primary | Florida Public Service Commission Vice President of Air Florida | 1927 |
| Alabama | Jeremiah Denton (R) | January 2, 1981 | Yes Replaced Donald Stewart (D), who was defeated in a primary | U.S. Navy Rear Admiral | 1924 |

## House of Representatives
### Took office January 3, 1979

| District | Representative | Switched party | Prior background | Birth year |
| Alabama 7 | Richard Shelby (D) | No | State Senator | 1934 |
| Arkansas 2 | Ed Bethune (R) | Yes | Prosecutor | 1935 |
| Arkansas 4 | Beryl Anthony Jr. (D) | No | Prosecutor | 1938 |
| California 3 | Bob Matsui (D) | No | City Councillor | 1941 |
| California 4 | Vic Fazio (D) | No | State Assemblyman | 1942 |
| California 14 | Norman D. Shumway (R) | Yes | County Supervisor | 1934 |
| California 15 | Tony Coelho (D) | No | Congressional staffer | 1942 |
| California 17 | Chip Pashayan (R) | Yes | U.S. DHHS official | 1941 |
| California 18 | Bill Thomas (R) | No | State Assemblyman | 1941 |
| California 28 | Julian Dixon (D) | No | State Assemblyman | 1934 |
| California 33 | Wayne R. Grisham (R) | No | Mayor of La Mirada | 1923 |
| California 34 | Dan Lungren (R) | Yes | Lawyer | 1946 |
| California 37 | Jerry Lewis (R) | No | State Assemblyman | 1934 |
| California 39 | William E. Dannemeyer (R) | No | State Assemblyman | 1929 |
| Colorado 3 | Ray Kogovsek (D) | No | State Senator | 1941 |
| Colorado 5 | Ken Kramer (R) | No | State Representative | 1942 |
| Connecticut 5 | William R. Ratchford (D) | Yes | State House Speaker | 1934 |
| Florida 1 | Earl Hutto (D) | No | State Representative | 1926 |
| Florida 9 | Bill Nelson (D) | Yes | State Representative | 1942 |
| Florida 11 | Dan Mica (D) | No | Chief of staff | 1944 |
| Florida 12 | Edward J. Stack (D) | Yes | County Sheriff | 1910 |
| Georgia 6 | Newt Gingrich (R) | Yes | Professor | 1943 |
| Illinois 1 | Bennett Stewart (D) | No | City Councillor | 1912 |
| Illinois 22 | Dan Crane (R) | Yes | Dentist | 1936 |
| Indiana 8 | H. Joel Deckard (R) | Yes | State Representative | 1942 |
| Iowa 2 | Tom Tauke (R) | Yes | State Representative | 1950 |
| Kansas 2 | James Edmund Jeffries (R) | Yes | Corporate director | 1925 |
| Kansas 5 | Bob Whittaker (R) | No | State Representative | 1939 |
| Kentucky 6 | Larry J. Hopkins (R) | Yes | State Senator | 1933 |
| Louisiana 4 | Buddy Leach (D) | No | State Representative | 1934 |
| Maine 2 | Olympia Snowe (R) | No | State Senator | 1947 |
| Maryland 6 | Beverly Byron (D) | No | Political organizer | 1932 |
| Maryland 8 | Michael D. Barnes (D) | Yes | Public Service Commissioner | 1943 |
| Massachusetts 5 | James Shannon (D) | No | Congressional aide | 1952 |
| Massachusetts 6 | Nicholas Mavroules (D) | No | Mayor of Peabody | 1929 |
| Massachusetts 11 | Brian J. Donnelly (D) | No | State Representative | 1946 |
| Michigan 3 | Howard Wolpe (D) | Yes | State Representative | 1939 |
| Michigan 10 | Donald J. Albosta (D) | Yes | State Representative | 1925 |
| Michigan 11 | Robert William Davis (R) | No | State Senator | 1932 |
| Minnesota 1 | Arlen Erdahl (R) | No | Minnesota Secretary of State | 1931 |
| Minnesota 5 | Martin Olav Sabo (DFL) | No | State House Speaker | 1938 |
| Mississippi 4 | Jon Hinson (R) | No | Congressional aide | 1942 |
| Montana 1 | Pat Williams (D) | No | State Representative | 1937 |
| Nebraska 1 | Doug Bereuter (R) | No | State Senator | 1939 |
| New Jersey 13 | Jim Courter (R) | Yes | Lawyer | 1941 |
| New Jersey 14 | Frank Joseph Guarini (D) | No | State Senator | 1924 |
| New York 1 | William Carney (C) | Yes | County Legislator | 1942 |
| New York 9 | Geraldine Ferraro (D) | No | Lawyer | 1935 |
| New York 23 | Peter A. Peyser (D) | Yes | U.S. Representative | 1921 |
| New York 29 | Gerald Solomon (R) | Yes | State Assemblyman | 1930 |
| New York 33 | Gary A. Lee (R) | No | State Assemblyman | 1933 |
| Ohio 3 | Tony P. Hall (D) | Yes | State Senator | 1942 |
| Ohio 19 | Lyle Williams (R) | Yes | County Commissioner | 1942 |
| Oklahoma 2 | Mike Synar (D) | No | Real estate broker | 1950 |
| Pennsylvania 2 | William H. Gray III (D) | No | Minister | 1941 |
| Pennsylvania 4 | Charles F. Dougherty (R) | Yes | State Senator | 1937 |
| Pennsylvania 15 | Donald L. Ritter (R) | Yes | Metallurgical engineer | 1940 |
| Pennsylvania 21 | Donald A. Bailey (D) | No | Lawyer | 1945 |
| Pennsylvania 23 | William Clinger (R) | Yes | Lawyer | 1929 |
| Pennsylvania 25 | Eugene Atkinson (D) | Yes | County Commissioner | 1927 |
| South Carolina 4 | Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (R) | Yes | State Senator | 1940 |
| South Dakota 1 | Tom Daschle (D) | No | Congressional aide | 1947 |
| Tennessee 5 | Bill Boner (D) | No | State Senator | 1945 |
| Texas 6 | Phil Gramm (D) | No | Professor | 1942 |
| Texas 11 | Marvin Leath (D) | No | Businessman | 1931 |
| Texas 14 | Joseph P. Wyatt Jr. (D) | No | State Representative | 1941 |
| Texas 17 | Charles Stenholm (D) | No | Business executive | 1938 |
| Texas 18 | Mickey Leland (D) | No | State Representative | 1944 |
| Texas 19 | Kent Hance (D) | No | State Senator | 1942 |
| Texas 21 | Tom Loeffler (R) | Yes | Assistant to President Gerald Ford | 1946 |
| Texas 22 | Ron Paul (R) | Yes | U.S. Representative | 1935 |
| Texas 24 | Martin Frost (D) | No | Lawyer | 1942 |
| Washington 2 | Al Swift (D) | No | Broadcaster | 1935 |
| Washington 7 | Mike Lowry (D) | Yes | County Councilor | 1939 |
| Wisconsin 8 | Toby Roth (R) | Yes | State Assemblyman | 1938 |
| Wisconsin 9 | Jim Sensenbrenner (R) | No | State Senator | 1943 |
| Wyoming at-large | Dick Cheney (R) | Yes | White House Chief of Staff | 1941 |

#### Non-voting members

| District | Delegate | Switched party | Prior background | Birth year | Ref |
| U.S. Virgin Islands at-large | Melvin H. Evans (R) | Yes | Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands | 1917 | |

### Took office during the 96th Congress

| District | Representative | Took office | Switched party | Prior background | Birth year |
| California 11 | William Royer (R) | April 3, 1979 | Yes | County Supervisor | 1920 |
| Wisconsin 6 | Tom Petri (R) | April 3, 1979 | No | State Senator | 1940 |
| Illinois 10 | John Porter (R) | January 22, 1980 | Yes | State Representative | 1935 |
| Pennsylvania 11 | Ray Musto (D) | September 9, 1980 | No | State Representative | 1929 |
| Louisiana 3 | Billy Tauzin (D) | May 22, 1980 | Yes | State Representative | 1943 |
| West Virginia 3 | John G. Hutchinson (D) | June 30, 1980 | No | Mayor of Charleston | 1935 |
| Michigan 13 | George Crockett Jr. (D) | November 4, 1980 | No | Jurist | 1909 |