US: 3 new Jewish representatives in Congress
Jewish public's representatives in Washington strengthen their hold on both chambers of American lawmaking body, with 13 senators and 33 House of Representative delegates
One of the new representatives is Jared Polis, 33, of Colorado, who made history as the first openly homosexual man to run and be elected to the House.
Three Jewish senators ran for reelection, and two Democrats managed to keep their seats: Veteran Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and 84-year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
Two Jewish senators from Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken, who starred in the past in late-night series "Saturday Night Live", were separated by a by a hair's breadth, automatically leading to a recount.
Some 2.9 million people voted in the election between the two, with Coleman winning by 571 votes.
All the six Jewish Democratic representatives, who have only been serving in the House of Representatives one term, managed to keep their seats: Steve Kagan of Wisconsin, Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, Ron Klein of Florida, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Steve Cohen of Tennessee.
The only Jewish Republican House representative, Eric Cantor of Virginia, was also reelected and is now nominated for a leadership role in the Congress' Republican faction.
However, not all Jews were successful: A blind rabbi named Dennis Schulman lost in the battle for an election district in New Jersey, and JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People reported that Hank Eng, a Chinese man who married a Jewish woman and converted, fell short in the battle in Colorado.
Democrat Annette Taddeo, a Jew of Colombian descent, lost to Cuban-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, leader of the Republic minority in the House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs and a strong advocate for Israel.
