Dreams, desks and selfies: Newly elected members of Congress learn their way around

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep.-elect LaKesha Womack, a community organizer who stunned her own Democratic Party by defeating a well-known North Carolina Republican on her shoestring $56,000 campaign budget, said she's excited to arrive in Washington and show what's possible.

Rep.-elect Brian Poindexter said his win over incumbent GOP Rep. Max Miller ensures Ohio remains a very competitive swing state.

And Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot in New Jersey who said she's spent her whole life “trying to find the biggest, hardest problem to throw myself at,” was ready to give Congress a try. “There's always the unknown.”

They were among more than 100 newly elected members of Congress arriving in Washington this week for the start of freshmen orientation — the crush of new Democrats, many bringing a new sense of urgency after the party's sweep of the midterm elections, and the slim new class of freshmen Republicans.

“People were just looking for somebody who’s going to listen to them,” said Womack, who said she won by simply showing up and talking with voters.

“I’m a single mom and so I know what it’s like to have to live on a budget and figure out how am I going to feed my family,” she said. “And that’s what people want to fight for them in Washington right now.”

New-member orientation creates an unusual mash-up on Capitol Hill, as the newcomers are arriving and the exiting lawmakers begin to clear out, all in preparation for the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 3, when lawmakers are sworn in and the new Congress begins.

This week’s orientation includes training sessions and ritzy receptions for the newcomers, and for the defeated or those retiring it's the start of figuring out what’s next. Briefing rooms are filled with information about office setup, payroll and benefits, and there's a room to take official portraits.

It’s also the time for the House and Senate to hold internal party elections for their new leaders, ahead of a public vote in January for the speaker of the House.

“I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can and being the best representative I can be for my district," said Poindexter as he arrived at the nearby Navy Yard hotel where lawmakers are temporarily housed.

The Capitol was a changed place as the members-elect started meeting up with their colleagues and getting to know their way around the place.

Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan was swarmed by young people in the Capitol basement, taking pictures with the progressive star who is also the first Muslim in the Senate.

Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico paid a visit to the outgoing Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who lost his own primary for reelection when President Donald Trump backed his rival, Ken Paxton, who was defeated.

“I’m so grateful for his advice and his guidance as I try to fill his big shoes,” Talarico said of Cornyn as he walked through the Senate between orientation events. He said he wants to meet with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas as well.

And Sen.-elect Juliana Stratton of Illinois snapped a photo with new Democratic senators-elect including Talarico, El-Sayed, Annie Andrews, Roy Cooper, Peggy Flanagan, Josh Turek and others.

“First Freshmen Senator selfie! Couldn’t ask for a better team,” she posted as the caption.

Among them was former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted, a Trump-backed favorite, for a comeback. Brown was in the Senate for 18 years before he lost two years ago to GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, but he still joined his freshmen colleagues for their orientation.

“I’ve actually learned some things,” said Brown, who was celebrating his 74th birthday on Monday. “I’ve gotten to know my colleagues.”

One of the first decisions the incoming lawmakers will make happens even before they’re sworn into office, as they huddle with their parties in private meetings to choose House and Senate leadership.

Congressional offices are being bombarded with phone calls and social media messages pushing Democrats to dump their current choices – House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer – in favor of a fresh start.

Jeffries scoffed when questioned Monday if he had support— the typically low-key leader flashing confidence he would have the votes. He is on track to make history as the nation's first Black American to become speaker of the House.

Progressive lawmakers, in particular, are agitating for change reflective of voters' sweeping turnout for Democrats, especially in the Senate.

Sen.-elect Chris Pappas, D-N.H. — who was darting back and forth between his day job as an outgoing member of the House and his new one as an incoming senator — said their class is “a new generation of leadership that wants to do things differently and shake up Washington.”

He said he wants to meet with Schumer and will later decide who he will support, if anyone challenges him.

Republicans will also choose their new leaders after House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to step aside following the party's election defeat. Tuesday's closed-door race between the No. 2 Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is a repeat of the contest in 2023, before Johnson rose to power.

Rep. Richard Hudson, the House GOP campaign chairman who lost his own reelection bid in North Carolina, hesitated to assess the outcome.

Besides, he said, he doesn't have a vote in the matter — the exiting lawmakers are blocked from the GOP meeting.

As the week began, the House Chaplain Margaret Kibben opened Monday's session with a prayer, “some of us enjoying victories and others enduring disheartening defeats.”

On the Democratic side, the new Congress will see many milestones – Flanagan will be the first Native American female U.S. senator, Pappas the first gay male senator, and more.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, the House Democrats' campaign chief, called the party's candidates “all very unique.”

"We had firefighters, ministers, mayors, veterans, teachers, farmers, prosecutors, union leaders, law enforcement, doctors, journalists and even a Grammy award-winning musician," she said earlier.

“They understand that their job title is representative, not rubber stamp.”

Johnson, the outgoing speaker, hosted a reception in the Capitol's stately Statuary Hall for the House Republicans, whose shrinking numbers left the party lopsided, their minority made up of mostly white men.

Rep.-elect Kristina Knickerbocker, D-Ohio, talks with reporters in the Capitol basement during the first day of new member orientation, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Rep.-elect Joe Strada, R-Fla., left, walks through the Capitol basement during the first day of new member orientation, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Sen.-elect Juliana Stratton, D-Ill., walks to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., office at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen.-elect Annie Andrews, D-S.C., walks to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., office at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan, D-Minn., walks to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., office at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen.-elect Troy Jackson, D-Maine, walks to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., office at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen.-elect Josh Turek, D-Iowa, goes to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., office at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen.-elect Chris Pappas, D-N.H., walks through the Ohio Clock Corridor at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Rep.-elect Jon Bonck, R-Texas, walks through the Capitol basement during the first day of new member orientation, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Rep.-elect Amanda McKinney, R-Wash., center, walks through the Capitol basement during the first day of new member orientation, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Rep.-elect Rebecca Bennett, D-N.J., talks with reporters in the Capitol basement during the first day of new member orientation, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Rep.-elect Jon Bonck, R-Texas, arrives at the AC Hotel during new member orientation in Washington, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Rep.-elect LaKesha Womack, D-N.C., arrives for first day of new member orientation at the Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, D-Mich., center, is flanked by Sen.-elect Andy Barr, R-Ky., left, and Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton, D-Kan., as newly-elected senators arrive for orientation following the sweeping victory by Democrats in the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sens.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, D-Mich., center, Roy Cooper, D-N.C., third from right, and Annie Andrews, D-S.C., second from right, walk through the Ohio Clock Corridor at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote Tuesday on whether to advance an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has accused lawmakers of undermining American troops in war zones by targeting him over mere “policy disagreements."

The procedural vote will either block the impeachment resolution or set up a final vote Wednesday. With Democratic leadership backing the effort brought by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, the outcome will likely hinge on whether Republican lawmakers break ranks after their sweeping losses in the midterm elections.

Hegseth dug in for a congressional fight in his first news conference in months on Tuesday, portraying Massie as a rogue lawmaker and arguing that he had committed none of the high crimes required in the Constitution for his removal. He framed the effort as an indictment against the nation’s service members and their successes while undermining American forces “in real time.”

“This is not patriotism,” Hegseth said. “This is sabotage.”

Massie's resolution includes eight counts of impeachment. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth's role in carrying out military actions in Yemen and Venezuela.

Massie, a Kentucky Republican leaving Congress in January after losing his primary to a Trump-backed opponent, says Hegseth has “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders."

Tuesday morning, Hegseth gave a defiant and politicized defense of his stewardship of the U.S. military in his first news conference at the Pentagon in six months. He chose to hit back at the rising bipartisan anger over battlefield strategy while offering few details about intermittent operations against Iran or fatal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America.

President Donald Trump praised Hegseth’s performance at the briefing in a social media post, while Vice President JD Vance said in his own post that the impeachment effort is “a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”

Hegseth said the impeachment resolution “tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching — the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.”

Massie filed the resolution in the House on Monday, giving Republican leaders two days to bring it to a vote. Tuesday's vote is a procedural attempt to stop the impeachment push outright by sending the matter back to committee.

If the impeachment resolution advances, it would set the stage for a dramatic vote Wednesday on whether to impeach a key Trump Cabinet member following sweeping losses for Republicans in last week's midterm elections, which many at least partly blamed on the Iran conflict and its economic impact. If the resolution were to pass the House, it would ultimately be sent to the Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be needed for Hegseth's removal.

“The law requires our military to withdraw from hostilities within 60 days if Congress does not authorize the activity,” Massie wrote on social media Tuesday. The Iran war "has been underway for 256 days. Congress has not authorized it. Hegseth is breaking the law."

What constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors” is not spelled out in the Constitution, leaving it to lawmakers to decide what are impeachable acts.

Hegseth said Massie’s concerns are not impeachable, calling them “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a “political gambit for attention” and predicted that Republicans would defeat it “one way or the other.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is on the cusp of becoming the nation’s first Black House speaker, said Monday that he is a “hard yes” on the resolution. He called Hegseth the “architect” of the war in Iran.

In the Senate, meanwhile, next steps were uncertain if the impeachment resolution cleared the House.

Outgoing GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Tuesday that she wants to ensure “that the right information is flowing from the Pentagon to the president.”

“Is he being truthful in the way the war is going?” Ernst said of Hegseth.

Hegseth cast Massie's resolution in historic terms, arguing that no defense secretary has been impeached in the nation's 250-year history “for carrying out lawful military operations.”

But more recently, a Cabinet official in President Joe Biden's administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was impeached by House Republicans over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. But the Senate dismissed all impeachment charges, shutting down his trial before arguments even began.

Mayorkas, who did not appear to testify before the impeachment proceedings, put the border crisis squarely on Congress for failing to update immigration laws during a time of global migration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had said then, in April 2024, that House Republicans’ charges failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent.

Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, who voted to impeach Mayorkas, said he didn't believe Hegseth had committed any impeachable offense.

“Impeachment has been watered down,” LaLota said.

Before Mayorkas, no sitting Cabinet secretary had ever been impeached. It was nearly 150 years ago that the House voted to impeach President Ulysses S. Grant’s war secretary, William Belknap, over a kickback scheme in government contracts. He resigned before the vote.

Trump has backed Hegseth in the wake of Massie's impeachment resolution, pointing to the U.S. military raid to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January as well as operations against Iran that he asserts have “obliterated” its navy and air force.

“Pete Hegseth gets an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

Iran, however, has been able to keep striking U.S. military bases in the Middle East and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the more than 8-month-old conflict, driving up global oil prices.

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks outside of the Capitol about articles of impeachment he introduced against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks outside of the Capitol about articles of impeachment he introduced against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at an event for Anduril Industries, Inc., at Sparrows Point Shipyard, Oct. 6, 2026, in Sparrows Point, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth waits to welcome Britain's Defense Secretary Wes Streeting to the Pentagon during an arrival ceremony, Thursday, Oct 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)