Selma gained some positive light in the nation’s capital Tuesday night during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, (D-Ala.) was selected by the House leadership to be part of the escort party that would see Obama into the House chamber.

She was thrilled.

Shortly after the president’s speech, she called The Selma Times-Journal to talk about her reaction to the speech and the honor of being part of the escort team to bring the president to the floor.

Sewell said the group gathered in the anteroom for photos and to greet one another shortly before the speech. She and Obama exchanged greetings. He teased her about being there and told her he hoped it would not be her last.

Sewell said, “I told him ‘I plan to be here for the next five years with you.’”

Dressed in a winter white dress accented with brown piping, those who watched the SOTU after the president completed, saw her following him down the aisle, laughing and talking with others.

Afterwards, while on the ride home, she told the newspaper, “It was a very overwhelming night.”

The freshman congresswoman was elected last fall to fill the vacancy left by Artur Davis, who ran an unsuccessful campaign as a Democrat for governor. He was defeated in the primary.

Sewell has already made her mark. True enough, her voting record — 100 percent with the party — has aggravated some, just look at the remarks under stories about her at www.selmatimesjournal.com.

Yet, she’s hanging in there.

Earlier this week, she received her subcommittee assignments on the House agriculture and on the science and technology committees. She said she’s pleased with them.

She’s on the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management subcommittee which oversees programs and markets related to cotton, wheat, feed grains, soybeans and other commodities, and the Commodity Credit Corp. and risk management, including crop insurance.

Sewell also serves on the Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture, which oversees rural development, farm security and family farming matters, research education and extension.

As a member of the Science Space and Technology Committee, she’s on the subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and the subcommittee on Research and Science Education.

“It’s an honor,” she said. “It helps our 7th District.”