There will be eight new Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee when Congress opens its new session in January, said Mike Conaway, Texas Republican, the incoming chairman. Two of the newcomers defeated committee members to win election to the House – Mike Bost, a state representative who beat Democrat Bill Enyart in a Southern Illinois district, and physician Ralph Abraham, who easily won a runoff on Saturday, topped incumbent Vance McAllister in a Republican primary in northeastern Louisiana.
Jackie Walorski, from north-central Indiana, just elected to her second term, is the senior member among the new committee members. Besides Bost and Abraham, they are Rick Allen from southeastern Georgia, Tom Emmer from a central Minnesota district that includes Minneapolis suburbs, John Moolenaar from central Michigan, Dan Newhouse from east-central Washington state and David Rouzer from a Charlotte, NC, district.