California Democrat Jackie Speier during a mock swearing in with Speaker Nancy Pelosi Speier took her seat in the House Thursday nearly three decades...
{"Image ImageDescription": "WASHINGTON, DC - April 10: California Democrat Jackie Speier, during a mock swearing in with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Speier took her seat in the House Thursday, nearly three decades after she first ran for Congress. Speier, 57, easily won a special election April 8 to fill the unexpired term of House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos, 80, who died Feb. 11 of esophageal cancer. She was sworn in Thursday during a brief floor ceremony, bringing the partisan breakdown in the House to 234 Democrats and 198 Republicans. There are three vacancies. ?I was elected to succeed Congressman Lantos. No one will ever replace him,? Speier said in her first floor speech.  (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)", "Image Copyright": "2008 Congressional Quarterly"}