Subscriber Special: Grading the Congressional Freshman Class

the average is pretty, well, average—but primaries have paid off

The 117th Congress welcomed 21 Democratic members who did not serve in the same office in the 116th Congress: six senators and fifteen representatives. Because 2020 was a fairly middling year for congressional Democrats, few of these freshmen (just four) represent constituencies that could be considered competitive or swingy; that unequivocally sucks, b…