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From left, Rep.-elect Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), and Rep.-elect John James (R-Mich.) pose for a selfie outside the U.S. Capitol Nov. 14, 2022. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
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Cross-aisle bonds between Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), Rep.-elect John James (R-Mich.) and Rep.-elect Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) were forged in the same class at the storied military academy.
When John James and Pat Ryan reconnected on the sidelines of an Army football game in 2019, they were two old West Point classmates with night-and-day political identities in a similar predicament: Both had just lost congressional bids.
Three years later, the former Cadet company buddies’ fates have shifted — both will be House members next year. And as the chamber starts a new Congress more closely divided than ever, both in head count and in spirit, James and Ryan’s relationship promises to forge a needed bipartisan bridge over toxic partisan divides.