A leader of the Democratic Class of 2018 confronts the challenges of governing

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Freshman Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), center, celebrates after being sworn in by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the 116th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 3, 2019. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) was up early Thursday morning, after working late Wednesday night. This was no ordinary day, in no ordinary time, for the co-president of the biggest class of freshman House Democrats in more than four decades — and the most diverse class ever.
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Newly elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), speaking to the full House on Thursday, described the freshman class as “transformative.” The Class of 1974, the Watergate babies, arrived in bigger numbers in the election after Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency, but this class has distinctions that the earlier class did not. “The Class of ’74 were the reformers,” said Stevens, 35. “We are the doers. We’re the defenders of democracy. We’re here to make it work.”

Those are bold words, which reflect the ambition and the confidence of the newly elected House Democrats whose elections were powered by thousands and thousands of newly activated citizens, an overwhelming number of them women. They reflect, too, the determination to make a difference. Whether the Class of 2018 lives up to the expectations they and others have set will be one of the significant stories of the coming few years.

The new class of Democrats represents a new generation, younger as a group than other classes and more reflective of a changing society. Many will be representing constituencies that long elected Republicans to Congress in suburban districts across the country.

Their ranks include a former secretary of health and human services (Rep. Donna Shalala of Florida), and a woman in her 20s and one who just turned 30 (Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Abby Finkenauer of Iowa). There are the first Native American women and Muslim women elected to Congress. The group includes a pediatrician, a former professional football player (Colin Allred of Texas, who, with Stevens, is co-president of the class) and many with national security experience, including many women.

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Stevens said she knows of chaotic transitions and openings. Ten years ago this month, she was working at the Treasury Department in the opening days of a new administration. “We were in the middle of an economic crisis,” she said. “GM and Chrysler were staring bankruptcy in the face. I was working on transition, entered into the halls of the Treasury Department, working off of a hodgepodge of equipment and recognizing that, if we didn’t make a decision about how to fund these companies, that they were going to liquidate.”

Democrats owe their new majority in part to a backlash against the president. But Stevens said the election was about more than that. Taxpayers are tired, she said, of paying for dysfunctional government. “The American people do not want dysfunction,” she said. “They want the government to work for them, and they expect that of our House of Representatives.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-leader-of-the-democratic-class-of-2018-confronts-the-challenges-of-governing/2019/01/03/dfb45c08-0f9e-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html