As Donald Trump won his presidential bid against Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election, we looked at how Harvard Law School alumni fared in United States congressional contests. With Republicans winning back the U.S. Senate and prevailing in the House of Representatives, all Harvard Law alumni running for re-election to Congress won their races while five more alumni vied to join their ranks.
Incumbent winners for the U.S. House of Representatives are Joaquin Castro ’00 (D-Texas), Josh Gottheimer ’04 (D-N.J.), Glenn Ivey ’86 (D-Md.), Raja Krishnamoorthi ’00 (D-Ill.), Jamie Raskin ’87 (D-Md.), Terri Sewell ’92 (D-Ala.), Brad Sherman ’79 (D-Calif.), and Juan Vargas ’91 (D-Calif.).
John Sarbanes ’88 (D-Md.) is retiring from Congress. Katie Porter ’01 (D-Calif.) was not eligible to run for re-election after losing in the primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in California. That race was won by Adam Schiff ’85 (D-Calif.), currently a U.S. representative.
Schiff will join Ted Cruz ’95 (R-Texas) and Tim Kaine ’83 (D-Va.), who were re-elected to the Senate, along with HLS Professor Emerita Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Five other alumni who did not face re-election serve in the Senate: Tom Cotton ’02 (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo ’77 (R-Idaho), Jack Reed ’82 (D-R.I.), Chuck Schumer ’74 (D-N.Y.), and Mark Warner ’80 (D-Va.). Senator Mitt Romney J.D./M.B.A. ’75 (R-Utah) opted not to run for re-election.
In races involving alumni who were not incumbents, Democrat Sam Liccardo J.D./M.P.P ’96, former mayor of San Jose, won the 16th Congressional District in California. And in a tight race to succeed Porter in the state’s Orange County, Dave Min ’02 prevailed over Republican Scott Baugh. Min previously was a state senator who served as economic and financial policy adviser to Schumer. In New York, Democrat Josh Riley ’07 won a rematch of a 2022 contest against Republican incumbent Marc Molinaro in the 19th Congressional District. Riley previously served as a policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor and general counsel to U.S. Senator Al Franken on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also in New York, in the Hudson Valley, Democrat Mondaire Jones ’13 lost in his bid for a second stint in Congress. Jones, who previously worked in the U.S. Justice Department for President Barack Obama ’91, served one term in the House and lost a primary race in 2022. Republican Joe Teirab ’12, a former federal prosecutor, was defeated in his race against incumbent Angie Craig, a Democrat in Minnesota.
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