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The 20 Youngest Members of Congress -- Pictures

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Aaron Schock, R-Ill.

By The Almanac of American Politics staff

Updated: August 10, 2011 | 11:45 a.m.
August 8, 2011 | 8:45 a.m.

The 20 Youngest Members of Congress

<p><strong>Aaron Schock</strong>, R-Ill. (Age: 30)
</br>The precocious Schock started his own Individual Retirement Account at age 14, and earned a college degree in two years. He was elected to the Peoria school board at age 20 and became its president at 23. Considered one of Washington’s most eligible bachelors, Schock recently made the cover of <em>Men’s Health</em> magazine.</p> - PHOTO: Alex Wong/Getty Images

<p><strong>Justin Amash</strong>, R-Mich. (Age: 31)
</br>Amash, the youngest freshman in Congress, was his high school valedictorian and went on to graduate magna cum laude with a degree in economics from the University of Michigan, where he also got a law degree. He has vowed to vote against any legislation he has not had time to read. Amash is one of five Arab-Americans in Congress.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Amash

<p><strong>Jaime Herrera Beutler</strong>, R-Wash. (Age: 32)
</br>One of only two Republican Hispanic women in Congress, Beutler got her start in politics knocking on doors as a teenager, helping to elect the GOP class of 1994. She was an aide to Rep. <strong>Cathy McMorris Rodgers</strong>, R-Wash., before being elected to the Washington legislature two years later while still in her 20s.</p> - PHOTO: Alex Wong/Getty Images

<p>Rep. <strong>Adam Kinzinger</strong>, R-Ill. (Age: 33)
</br>As a college sophomore, Kinzinger took seriously a joke from a friend about running for the McLean County Board, and he was elected to the board in 1998. He served until 2003. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he joined the Air Force, serving three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Kinzinger

<p>Rep. <strong>Duncan D. Hunter</strong>, R-Calif. (Age: 34)
</br>Born 35 years to the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hunter was also spurred to action by September 11. He quit his job and joined the Marines. While he was deployed in Afghanistan, his wife, Margaret, ran his congressional campaign for the seat formerly held by his father.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Hunter

<p><strong>Ben Quayle</strong>, R-Ariz. (Age: 34)
</br>Quayle was born three days after his father was elected to the House. Three days after Ben’s 12th birthday, Dan Quayle was elected vice president of the United States. The elder Quayle helped raise substantial sums for his son’s congressional race, most of it from outside of Arizona.</p> - PHOTO: Laura Segall/Stringer/Getty Images

<p><strong>Marlin Stutzman</strong>, R-Ind. (Age: 34)
</br>Stutzman is a farmer who began raising his own livestock at age 14 and developed his political views by listening to conservative talk radio programs while driving his tractor. He dropped out of college to focus on farming, got married at age 23, and he and his wife had their first child a year later.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Stutzman

<p><strong>Martha Roby</strong>, R-Ala. (Age: 35)
</br>Roby (center) was born weeks after America’s bicentennial. The daughter of a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, she studied music at New York University and then followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a lawyer and later joining the Montgomery City Council. In this photo, Roby is seen at the annual congressional baseball game held at Nationals Park in Washington.</p> - PHOTO: Chet Susslin

<p>Rep. <strong>Kevin Yoder</strong>, R-Kan. (Age: 35)
</br>Yoder drew his political inspiration from his grandfather, who was the mayor of suburban Wilmette, Ill., and president of the Chicago Bar Association. Yoder was elected student body president at the University of Kansas. He worked on campaigns during his college years and was elected to the state legislature after leaving KU.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Yoder

<p><strong>Patrick McHenry</strong>, R-N.C. (Age: 35)
</br>McHenry cut his political teeth as president of the College Republicans. He once dressed up as Abraham Lincoln at an appearance by President Clinton, after Clinton had been accused of rewarding campaign contributors with stays in the Lincoln Bedroom. McHenry also ran <em>notHillary.com</em> during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign.</p> - PHOTO: Alex Wong/Getty Images

<p><strong>Jared Polis</strong>, D-Colo. (Age: 36)
</br>Polis’s politically active parents frequently brought him to anti-war demonstrations as a child, and he graduated from high school in only three years. He began his career as an Internet entrepreneur during his sophomore year at Princeton. By his mid-20s, Polis was worth upwards of $300 million and had won his first election, to the Colorado state school board.</p> - PHOTO: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

<p><strong>André Carson</strong>, D-Ind. (Age: 36)
</br>Carson (right) succeeded his grandmother, Julia Carson, who died in office after representing the district for more than a decade. He became interested in politics at age 10, after hearing civil rights leader Jesse Jackson speak at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Carson is one of only two Muslims in Congress.</p> - PHOTO: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

<p><strong>Cory Gardner</strong>, R-Colo. (Age: 36)
</br>Gardner (right) graduated summa cum laude from Colorado State University and then returned home to Yuma, Colo., in pursuit of a more pastoral lifestyle. Gardner earned a law degree, became an aide to former Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and was later appointed to the state legislature.</p> - PHOTO: Chet Susslin

<p><strong>Jon Runyan</strong>, R-N.J. (Age: 37)
</br>In the middle of his senior year at the University of Michigan, Runyan was drafted into the NFL by the Houston Oilers. A standout offensive lineman, he subsequently helped both the Tennessee Titans and the Philadelphia Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2000 and 2005, respectively. His seat in the House is the first elective office he’s ever held.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Runyan

<p><strong>Devin Nunes</strong>, R-Calif. (Age: 37)
</br>At age 25, Nunes (center) entered his first race for Congress, but he lost in the primary by a respectable 52-48 percent margin. He then became a county campaign chairman for then-Rep. Bill Thomas of California. The influential Republican helped Nunes secure a job with the Agriculture Department and later assisted with fundraising on Nunes’s second House campaign.</p> - PHOTO: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

<p><strong>Cedric Richmond</strong>, D-La. (Age: 37)
</br>Richmond was elected to the state House of Representatives at the age of 26, making him the youngest lawmaker in Baton Rouge. Dismayed by the slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina, Richmond ran for Congress to replace Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who had been indicted on federal corruption charges and stripped of his committee assignments. In this photo, Richmond is seen pitching for the Democrats in the annual congressional baseball game.</p> - PHOTO: Chet Susslin

<p><strong>Chris Murphy</strong>, D-Conn. (Age: 37)
</br>In 1996, at the age of 22, Murphy was the campaign manager for Democrat Charlotte Koskoff, who narrowly lost her challenge to veteran Rep. Nancy Johnson, a prominent Republican moderate from Connecticut. After winning seats in both the state House and state Senate, Murphy took on Johnson himself in 2006 and won.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Murphy

<p>Rep. <strong>Dan Boren</strong>, D-Okla. (Age: 37)
</br>Boren’s grandfather represented Oklahoma in Congress for a decade, and his father was elected as both governor and senator. Boren served as an aide to former Rep. Wes Watkins (R), and was elected to the state House at age 29. He plans to retire from Congress at the end of his current term.</p> - PHOTO: Liz Lynch

<p>Rep. <strong>Tim Ryan</strong>, D-Ohio (Age: 38)
</br>Ryan’s first job after college was as an aide to then-Rep. Jim Traficant, who was later convicted of racketeering and bribery. Ryan entered the state House straight out of law school, and was elected to the U.S. House at age 29, after his former boss, Traficant, had been expelled.</p> - PHOTO: Liz Lynch

<p><strong>Stephen Fincher</strong>, R-Tenn. (Age: 38)
</br>Fincher does not hold a college degree, but he is a gospel-singing farmer who had planted his own crop and developed budgets for the family farm by age 13. The Finchers grew cotton, corn, soybeans, and wheat. With the campaign theme “Plow Congress,” he defeated a Democratic state lawmaker in 2010 to take the seat of retiring Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn.</p> - PHOTO: Courtesy Rep. Fincher

The 20 Youngest Members of Congress

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