THE next Senedd term will bring 20 new faces to national politics in Wales, after last week's election saw some members stand down and others fail in their attempts to be re-elected.
Let's take a look at who is joining the 'class of 2021' and who is saying goodbye.
Who are the new constituency Senedd members?
Among the Senedd's new constituency representatives is Elizabeth Williams, the new MS for the Rhondda seat.
Ms Williams, known as Buffy, won the Rhondda back for Welsh Labour after Plaid's win there in 2016.
Born and raised in the area, Ms Williams said the Rhondda had “stood together in the face of adversity”.
"I don't just want to talk about things, I want to get things done," she added. "And the only way I know how to do that is through teamwork."
READ MORE: As it happened - Senedd election: Welsh Labour win 30 seats
Among Ms Williams' goals for her new Senedd career is to get a new cancer hospital built in Velindre.
In Powys, Welsh Conservative newcomer James Evans won the Brecon and Radnorshire seat, turning it blue for the first time in the Senedd's history.
"This is the biggest honour of my life and I will do my upmost to stand up for our community and the whole of Wales in the Senedd," he said following the result.
READ MORE: Tories gain Brecon and Randorshire from the Libs Dems
The constituency had been held by the Liberal Democrats for the past 22 years.
Mr Evans added: "Today the people pressed the reset button, they wanted a fresh start in Brecon and Radnorshire, they wanted a new voice to represent them.
"I will fight tooth and nail for Brecon and Radnorshire, thank you for putting your trust in me, and now let's get on with the job."
In the north, the Tories won the Vale of Clwyd with their candidate, Denbighshire County Councillor Gareth Davies, turning blue a seat that has been in Labour hands since 1999.
"I want to thank the people of the Vale of Clwyd for putting their trust in me, and I look forward to getting to work in the constituency which is my home and [that] I'll be proud to represent," Mr Davies said in his victory speech.
Sarah Murphy retained the Bridgend seat for Labour with a comfortable 4,000-vote majority in a constituency where many were expecting a closer race, after the Tories flipped the town's Westminster seat in 2019.
She said it was a "privilege" to be elected, adding: "Thank you to everyone for your support, kind words and messages. I’m blown away by how many people voted, and humbled by your vote of confidence in me. I will not let you down."
In West Wales, Pembrokeshire County Councillor Samuel Kurtz won the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire seat for the Tories.
On the Senedd result, he said he was “overwhelmed, honoured and there’s a realisation that the hard work begins now".
Mr Kurtz thanked the people of the constituency for “putting their trust in me” as he also paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of his predecessor, Angela Burns (see below).
“If I can do the job half as good as her, I would be pleased with what I can do,” he said.
Two more newcomers to the Senedd will be making the transition from local to national government. Plaid candidate and Denbighshire County Councillor Mabon ap Gwynfor is the new MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, and Monmouthshire County Council's leader, Peter Fox, will represent the Monmouth constituency in the chamber.
What about the regions?
In North Wales, Plaid Cymru candidate Sam Rowlands will be taking up a Senedd seat.
The leader of Conwy County Borough Council, he said: Thanks for everyone's support for the Welsh Conservative party in North Wales today – looking forward to representing the region in the Senedd."
He will be joined by Carolyn Thomas, the deputy leader of Flintshire County Council, who said following the results she felt "extremely honoured and feel privileged to be the first North Wales regional list member for the Labour Party".
In Mid and West Wales, the Lib Dems managed to retain their one Senedd seat thanks to party leader Jane Dodds' victory in the regional ballot. The win marks a return to elected office for Ms Dodds, who spent two years as the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire between 2017 and 2019.
"Thank you so much to everyone who stood, volunteered, and most importantly voted for the Welsh Lib Dems today," tweeted Ms Dodds after the results.
Joining her from the region is Plaid Cymru's Cefin Campbell.
In South Wales East, voters elected Natasha Asghar, the first woman from a black, Asian or minority-ethnic (BAME) background to serve in the Senedd.
Ms Asghar said she was "honoured" to be elected for the Welsh Conservatives – something she had "strived for for such a long time".
She added: "I'm truly honoured to be third on the list for the region that I've worked for, that I've campaigned for in the past, and now I'm finally part of."
Ms Asghar will represent the same region as her late father, Mohammad 'Oscar' Asghar, who died last year.
Also heading to the Senedd from the region is Plaid candidate Peredur Owen Griffiths.
"The people of the South Wales East region have put their faith in Plaid Cymru," he said. "I'm very very pleased."
South Wales Central will have three new Senedd members. Among them is Joel James, a Conservative councillor for the Rhondda Cynon Taf local authority. He will be joined in the chamber by another RCT councillor, Plaid Cymru candidate Heledd Fychan.
She said she was "hugely honoured and humbled to have been elected," adding: "Thank you to everyone that voted and placed their faith in me."
Rhys ap Owen, also of Plaid, was the third new MS elected to South Wales Central.
There'll be a full compliment of four new faces representing South Wales West in the next Senedd term.
Conservative candidate Tom Giffard said he was "overwhelmed but a real honour to represent" the region.
Mr Giffard said he was "thrilled" to be joining the Senedd with his "good friend" and party colleague Altaf Hussain, who is beginning his second spell in the chamber.
Dr Hussain, a former consultant orthopaedic surgeon, spent a year in the then-Assembly between 2015 and 2016.
Also from the region are two new Plaid MSs. Luke Fletcher said he was "extremely excited to begin work as the new MS for South Wales West".
"I'm honoured to have been given a chance to represent our region alongside such a principled and passionate colleague," he added, referring to Sioned Williams, who said she was "so honoured to have been elected".
Which constituency MSs won't be returning this time?
Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood failed to hold on to her Rhondda seat last week to Labour newcomer Elizabeth Williams (see above).
The defeat ends an 18-year spell in the Senedd for Ms Wood, having represented the South Wales Central region from 2003 to 2016, when she won the Rhondda contest.
READ MORE: Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood ousted by Labour
The former lecturer and probation worker led Plaid between 2012 and 2018, when she lost in a leadership challenge from Adam Price.
Ms Wood has courted controversy during her time in the Senedd, becoming in 2004 the first member to be ordered out of the chamber – for referring to the Queen as “Mrs Windsor”. In 2013 she was arrested at a protest against Britain’s Trident nuclear missile programme.
In her constituency, Ms Wood has been involved with the campaign to save the Royal Glamorgan Hospital’s A&E department and in 2019 set up a food-share scheme to redistribute unsold supermarket food.
Also failing to win re-election last week was Nick Ramsay, who stood as an independent candidate in a bid to keep his Monmouth seat.
Mr Ramsay represented the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd for 17 years but left the party group earlier this year after becoming “increasingly disillusioned with aspects of the direction of the Conservative Party and its movement away from the centre-ground of UK politics".
READ MORE: Monmouth Tories reject Nick Ramsay's claim of 'bullying culture'
His resignation marked the end of a party-candidate relationship that had soured of late. Mr Ramsay was suspended and then later reinstated by the Welsh Tories following his arrest on New Year's Day 2020. No further police action was ever taken against him.
But the suspension led to Mr Ramsay taking (and later dropping) legal action then-party leader Paul Davies, and relations with the Welsh Tories were further strained when the Monmouth representative sought – then withdrew – a court order to block a deselection vote.
Former driving instructor Mr Ramsay, from Raglan, finished sixth in last week's election, winning 3.6 per cent of the vote.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas served as the chamber's first presiding (Lywydd) for 12 years and represented Dwyfor Meirionnydd for Plaid Cymru in the Senedd until 2016, when he left the party a few months after that year's election to sit as an independent member and support the Welsh Government.
Before joining Welsh politics, Lord Elis-Thomas spent 18 years in the House of Commons and was made a life peer in 1992. He chose not to run for election this year.
Carwyn Jones represented the Bridgend constituency for 22 years and was also the third person to serve as the first minister of Wales, doing so between 2009 and 2018, when he was succeeded by Mark Drakeford.
During his time as leader of the Welsh Government, Mr Jones made repeated warnings about the direction of the United Kingdom and called for Westminster to bring in a constitutional convention to revise the arrangement between the four nations and save the union.
Having decided to leave the Senedd, Mr Jones campaigned in Bridgend for Labour candidate Sarah Murphy, and has now turned his attention to providing first-class commentary to The National, giving us insights into life in the Senedd.
READ MORE: Dark tales from behind closed doors: The inside story on how to form a Welsh government
Also calling time on a 22-year Senedd career is Kirsty Williams, the Liberal Democrat who served as education minister in the previous five-year term.
Ms Williams led the Welsh Lib Dems for eight years, and between 2016 and 2021 was the party's only Senedd member.
After joining the Welsh Government, her time as education minister saw the development and completion of a new Curriculum for Wales, that will be rolled out gradually in schools from 2022.
Ms Williams said at the time that the new curriculum was "the product of a shared desire to reform education and improve the life chances and futures for all of our children and young people".
READ MORE: Landmark curriculum bill passes Welsh Parliament vote
Her decision to step down this year meant the Brecon and Radnorshire seat was up for grabs. Ms Williams was enormously popular among voters, and the Welsh Tories saw – and ultimately took – an opportunity to steal the Senedd seat, as they did for Westminster in 2019.
Ann Jones has also stepped down the Senedd, choosing not to run for re-election after spending the past five years serving as the chamber's deputy presiding officer.
She represented the Vale of Clwyd for Welsh Labour in five consecutive Senedd elections, having entered politics after a career in the fire service.
First elected in 2007, Angela Burns spent 14 years as the Welsh Conservative representative for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire and held several shadow ministerial positions for the Tories, including portfolios for health and education. She did not run for election this time.
What about the departing regional members?
None of the seven UKIP members who won Senedd places in 2016 were able to hold on to their seats this time. Several of them had since moved on to other parties or were running as independents.
In South Wales East, former UKIP MS Mark Reckless – who stood this time as an Abolish the Welsh Assembly candidate – lost his seat, as did David Rowlands, who had switched to Reform UK (formerly known as the Brexit Party) during the previous Senedd term.
Three serving South Wales Central representatives either did not run or failed in their attempts to win a regional seat this time.
Among them was 'class of 1999' member, Welsh Conservative representative David Melding, who decided not to stand for election this year.
Mr Melding spent five years (2011-2016) as the Senedd's deputy presiding officer, and before standing down as an MS he told colleagues it had been his "proudest moment in professional life" to sit in the first meeting of the then-Assembly.
Neil McEvoy lost the regional seat he had won in 2016 for Plaid Cymru. Expelled from the Plaid group in 2018, he sat as an independent for a time before founding and leading a new party, Propel.
Gareth Bennett spent two years as UKIP's Senedd leader during the last term before joining Abolish – only to leave the party weeks before the election and run, unsuccessfully, for the Cynon Valley seat. He did not contest the regional ballot this year.
In South Wales West, Suzy Davies was not selected by the Welsh Conservatives for this year's election despite spending 10 years serving the South Wales West region.
Bethan Sayed decided not to run for re-election this year, bringing to an end a 14-year spell in the Senedd. She represented the region for Plaid Cymru in three elections, and her time as an MS included a period as the party's spokesperson for heritage, Welsh lanaguage and sport.
Former UKIP member Caroline Jones switched to the Brexit Party during the last term and then ran this year as an independent, but did not retain the seat she won in 2016.
And Dai Lloyd will not be returning to the Senedd this time, having previously had two spells in the chamber. Dr Lloyd represented the region from 1999 to 2011 and then again from 2016 to 2021. He did not contest the regional ballot this year, instead running unsuccessfully for the Swansea West constituency.
In the Mid and West Wales region, UKIP's sole surviving Senedd member and party group leader Neil Hamilton did not win re-election to the seat he won in 2016 and also failed in his bid to become the MS for Islwyn. His departure from the Senedd means there will be no UKIP members in the next Welsh Parliament term.
Helen Mary Jones had two spells in the Senedd for Plaid Cymru (as Llanelli AM between 2007 and 2011 and then as Mid an West Wales MS from 2016 to 2021) but did not win re-election this year.
Finally, in North Wales, two Eurosceptic members said farewell to the Senedd. Mandy Jones was not elected for UKIP in 2016 but joined the chamber two years later, following the resignation of Nathan Gill. She later became an independent MS before joining the Brexit Party. She did not appear on the regional ballot this time.
Michelle Brown was elected for UKIP via the regional list five years ago but left the party group to become an independent in 2019. She did not win re-election on the regional ballot this year.
This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.
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