(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/21/2024) U.S. Rep-elect Tom Barrett will be in the same Washington, D.C. office that his great-grandfather, Louis Rabuat, occupied when he sponsored legislation adding "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance around 70 years ago.  

Thursday, the 57-person freshman class of the U.S. Reps-elect participated in Congress' biennial new member-elect room lottery drawing, a tradition beginning in 1908 after the first House office building was completely constructed. Whichever member-elect randomly selects "one" is the first to choose their office. The individual to pick up "57" decides last.  

Barrett drew the 14th slot and Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), who will be representing the 8th Congressional district, chose the 17th.  

But before the lottery started, Barrett presented a letter to colleagues, asking if they would afford him the opportunity to select one of the offices his great-grandfather served in.  

"I've shared with several of you that my great-grandfather, Louis Rabaut from Michigan, served here in Congress and was first elected 90 years ago in 1934. He died in office in 1961, long before I was born, so I never had the opportunity to meet him or ask him about his time in Congress, but his legacy is something my whole family is very proud of," Barrett said in the letter.  

He explained that his youngest son, Louis, was named after his great-grandfather.  

Barrett is a Charlotte conservative who flipped the mid-Michigan 7th Congressional district – containing the greater Lansing area and Livingston County – from blue to red this election cycle. He defeated East Lansing Democrat Curtis Hertel, who he served in the state Senate with, by 16,852 votes this month.  

Rabaut, however, was a Detroit Democrat, known in the records for displaying "an Independence in Congress which at times must have annoyed Democratic leaders in Congress." He was the son of immigrants from Flanders, or the Flemish Region of Belgium, and advocated that the "unbridgeable gap between America and Communist Russia is a belief in Almighty God."  

Before 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Barrett was able to lock in his "first preference" room, Longworth 1232, where Rabaut was located when he sponsored legislation to add "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. He was also considering the office Rabaut occupied after he was first elected in 1934, and another one he was situated in from 1949 through 1952. 

Barrett will be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.  

While on the MIRS Monday Podcast earlier this month, Barrett explained that his four children have never been on an airplane before. He described how they live in a small town and usually travel within Michigan, or out-of-state by car for annual Thanksgiving dinners with his in-laws.  

"They've never been on an airplane before, and we promised them that after we win this campaign, their first airplane ride will be (to) Washington, D.C. to see me get sworn in as a new member of Congress," Barrett said. "And I think they were more excited about going on an airplane than the fact that I had won the election."  

When the 2025-26 term begins, Barrett confirmed his family will continue to be raised in Michigan.  

"It's very important to me that I'm the representative of my district in Washington, and I feel like if I move my family to Washington, I'll be Washington's representative here in this district, and I never want to become that," he said. "I'm going to commute back and forth. It's going to take some time away from my family.  

It's a sacrifice to be sure, but it's one worth making, because to me, this is fundamentally about the direction that our country is going to take."