Florida’s new delegation to the United States Congress is historically diverse. Thanks to the 2016 general election, the state's representatives are beginning to look more like its residents.
Nine out of Florida’s twenty-seven representatives in Congress are people of color, with four African-Americans, four Hispanics and one Asian-American. The state’s booming Puerto-Rican population now has its first representative in Democrat Darren Soto of Kissimmee. And Democrat Stephanie Murphy of Winter Park is the country’s first female Vietnamese-American member of Congress. The state is also sending another African-American woman to Washington, Orlando Democrat Val Demings. The delegation also includes Treasure Coast Republican Brian Mast, an Afghanistan War veteran and double amputee.
