The House of Representatives will have several fresh faces among the ranks in the upcoming term.
The 2012 election was a particularly strong year for challengers — a whopping 66 new members will head to Washington when the 113th Congress kicks off in January.
With close to 15 percent of the new House comprised of fresh faces, there are a lot of new people to meet.
We've checked them out, and compiled a list of the 12 members who, because of their strange back-stories or all-star potential, are bound to make life on Capitol Hill more interesting next year.
Krysten Sinema (D-AZ)
Sinema, the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress, is one of the most fascinating up-and-comers in the Democratic Party.
A Tucson native, Sinema spent several years of her childhood living with her family in an abandoned gas station without running water or electricity. Despite her poor background, she graduated as valedictorian of her high-school class, and went on to graduate from Brigham Young University and earn three advanced degrees, in law, social work, and justice studies.
Sinema entered politics in 2005 as a member of the Arizona state legislature. She has earned a reputation for her fierce liberal politics, even taking on Arizona's controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 2010, TIME magazine named her to its 40 Under 40 list.
Source: The Almanac Of American Politics, The New York Times
Ted Yoho (R-FL)
Yoho, a large animal veterinarian from Gainesville, scored one of the most shocking upsets of the 2012 primaries, defeating 12-term Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns by fewer than 1,000 votes.
During the primary, Yoho made a national media splash for his unconventional campaign, which included a fundraiser with a George W. Bush impersonator and a Herman Cain-style ad featuring "career politicians" rolling around in a pig trough.
Yoho will carry the Tea Party torch in the 113th Congress, filling the role vacated by departing representatives like Florida's Allen West. Last week, he made it clear he won't march in lockstep with the Republican Establishment when he told NPR that he doesn't plan on signing Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge.
Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Despite being just 31 years old, Gabbard is already considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. She will be the first Hindu member, and, along with Democratic Representative-elect Tammy Duckworth, one of the first female combat veterans to serve in Congress.
Gabbard got her start in politics, when she was elected to the Hawaii state legislature at age 21, making her the youngest female state representative ever elected in the U.S.
While serving as a state lawmaker, Gabbard joined the Hawaii National Guard. In 2004, she opted out of a second term to voluntarily deploy to Iraq with a field medical unit. She went on to attend Officer Candidate School in Alabama, where she was the first woman to ever graduate at the top of her class, and voluntarily deployed again in 2008, serving as a military police platoon leader training counterterrorism units in Kuwait.
After returning from her deployment in 2009, Gabbard co-founded the environmental educational nonprofit Healthy Hawaii Coalition, started her own film production company, and served on the Honolulu City Council.
Source: Tulsi Gabbard 2012
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