Sinema and Curbelo take over young member caucus

A caucus for the youngest members of Congress added some fresh blood to its leadership yesterday. Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) are the new co-chairs of the Congressional Future Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers younger than 45.

Freshman Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), 38, and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), 33, will be the caucus’s first vice chairs.

Launched in 2013, the caucus is the work of the Millennial Action Project, an organization that promotes young policymakers and politicians across the country with an emphasis on bipartisanship. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) were the first chairs. The group has similar young-member caucuses in at least 15 state legislatures.

MAP has been around since 2011. It focuses on forward-looking policies that appeal to younger voters, such as entrepreneurship, renewable energy, higher education access and immigration reform.

Sinema, 40, kicked off her tenure as caucus leader with a Facebook live interview on the MAP page.

She played up the caucus image as the cool kids on the congressional block.

Told that Curbelo had sent a statement — he had a House Ways and Means Committee meeting that conflicted with the chat — Sinema grabbed her phone.

“He should have sent us a selfie,” she said and texted Curbelo with the request.

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PEOPLE: Sinema and Curbelo take over young member caucus

A caucus for the youngest members of Congress added some fresh blood to its leadership yesterday. Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) are the new co-chairs of the Congressional Future Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers younger than 45.