August 10, 2021 by Joshua Caplan
In 232 years, only 10 women have given birth while serving in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik will be the 11th later this year.
Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, and her husband, Matthew Manda, announced on Saturday that they are expecting their first child.
The couple wrote in a tweet posted on Stefanik’s personal account that they “cannot wait to meet our precious bundle of joy.” The baby is due in the fall.
Stefanik and Manda have been married since August 2018.
When Stefanik delivers her baby later this year, she will join a small group of women who have given birth while in office. The first was former U.S. Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in 1973. The second, Enid Greene Waldholtz, followed 22 years later.
Two New Yorkers have welcomed children while in Congress. Former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari gave birth to a daughter in 1996. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand delivered her second son in 2008 while serving in the House of Representatives.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, gave birth to her first child in 2014 while serving in the House, then became the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth when she had her second child in 2018.
There have been only a few women who have been pregnant multiple times while in office. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, one of Stefanik’s predecessors as House Republican Conference chair, has given birth to three children while in Congress. U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has also delivered three children during her time in the House.
Stefanik was the youngest woman elected to Congress when she won the 21st Congressional District race in 2014. After the 2018 elections, she launched E-PAC which focuses on electing more Republican women to Congress.
Last month, Stefanik was elected House Republican conference chair— the No. 3 leadership post in the caucus.
Read the full article here: https://auburnpub.com/
