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A Woman's Place. All 15 women incumbents who sought re-election were victorious, and at least four were added to their ranks, meaning that there will be a record number of women in the next House, though their representation in the 435-member body is still meager. The new women Representatives, like Fiedler in California, are mainly Republican and conservative. One of them is Lynn Martin, whose budget-cutting assaults as a member of the Illinois legislature earned her a nickname: "the Ax." After criss-crossing her district for 26,000 miles, she won the seat vacated by John Anderson. Former Schoolteacher Marge Roukema knocked off liberal Democrat Andrew Maguire in New Jersey on her second try. And Claudine Schneider, an environmentalist from Narragansett, became the first woman elected to high office in Rhode Island, and the first Republican to go to Congress from there since 1938.
New Faces. Besides the new women, the election brought in a crop of conservative young Republicans who will try to solidify the political shift evidenced so strongly by Reagan's victory. John LeBoutillier, 27, a wealthy Harvard Business School graduate, was considered nothing but an upstart until he defeated eight-term Democrat Lester Wolff, 61, of Long Island. LeBoutillier is the author of two books: Primary, a scenario of a Saudi prince who parlays his oil wealth into political power, and Harvard Hates America, a collection of essays that take a jaundiced view of the university and liberalism.
Quintessential Southern Gentleman Richardson Preyer of North Carolina made way for a new Republican conservative, Eugene Johnson, a self-made millionaire who owns a graphics firm and manages real estate investments in Greensboro. Liberals found some solace in the election of Barney Frank to the Massachusetts seat that Jesuit Priest Robert Drinan is vacating on orders of Pope John Paul II. Among the 19 blacks elected, the most in history, were two new members, including former California Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally.
For the next two years, the country's conservative mood will be reflected in the nominally Democratic House. The ideas that carried Reagan to victory—his tax cut plans, energy proposals, austere budget goals—will find plenty of adherents, certainly enough to sustain any vetoes if not to pass all the new President's initiatives. This month the old House will meet in a lameduck session. But given the size of the Republican mandate, House leaders will postpone anything more ambitious than tidying up the current budget until the 97th Congress convenes in January.