Freshmen-elect Kristi Noem (SD) and Tim Scott (SC) were tapped for House leadership positions yesterday. The Washington Post reports:
Noem and Scott will serve as the freshman class liaisons to the House leadership. Both rising stars had announced bids for the position over the past few days and were considered the two most likely to win the spot.
"I am honored that my freshman class colleagues have put their trust in me to represent our historic class at the leadership table," Noem said in a statement. "The incoming freshman class of Representatives is large and diverse but we share many common goals including cutting wasteful spending, getting our economy back on track and making government smarter and more efficient."
"We didn't come here to become Washington, we came here to change Washington," she added.
Scott and Noem will add to the diversity of House Republicans' leadership team. Scott, along with Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), is one of the first two African American Republicans to be elected to Congress since former Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.) retired in 2003. Noem, meanwhile, will join Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) to become the second woman to serve on the GOP's leadership team.