Black women win historic Senate victories

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters on Tuesday elected two Black women to the Senate at the same time for the first time and sent an openly transgender representative to Congress. They are among historic decisions in nearly a dozen races that show Americans are choosing more diverse representation, even on issues like positive action and LGBTQ inclusion leads to deeper divisions.

Delaware Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland Angela Alsobrooks prevailed in their races and doubled the number of black women ever elected to the Senate – from two to four. And Delaware voters were elected Sarah McBride in a general race for the House of Representatives, becoming the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.

The victories come in an election year marked in part by historic firsts.

“Marking these milestones does two things: First, it celebrates the increasing diversity we are seeing in women’s political representation, whether in a state or national level,” said Kelly Dittmar, research director at the Center for American Women and Rutgers University Politics.

“But at the same time, it reminds us that we still have more work to do,” Dittmar said, noting that U.S. women overall do not have equal representation in elected office and that Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans and Native Americans remain behind their share of the population.

Other historic firsts in the Senate on Tuesday include New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim the first Asian American elected to represent the Garden State in the Senate and also the first Korean-American elected to the Senate. Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno was the first Latino to represent the state.

Black women are making history in the US Senate

There have never been two black women in office in the Senate at the same time. Kamala Harris was only the second Black woman and the first South Asian woman to serve in the Senate before being elected vice president. From 2021 to 2023, the chamber was without Black women representation until the appointment of California Governor Gavin Newsom Laphonza Butler to a vacancy caused by the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Blunt Rochester, a Democrat who currently represents the entire Delaware congressional district, will become the first woman and first Black person to represent Delaware in the Senate. Alsobrooks, a Democrat and former Prince George’s County, Maryland executive, is also the first Black woman to represent her state in the Senate.

“It is remarkable that America will be celebrating its 250th birthday in two years,” Alsobrooks said during a victory speech Tuesday night. “And over all these years, more than 2,000 people have served in the United States Senate. Only three looked like me.”

“And so I want to express my respect to all those who came before me, who made it possible for me to be on this stage tonight, whose sacrifices and stories I will continue to carry with me,” she added to cheers from fans .

Their victories bring the number of black members of the Senate to five, the most at any time in history. Yet the 100 members of the Senate have historically been and continue to be predominantly white men.

“We have increased our representation of Black women in the Senate by 100%,” said Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People, a national organizing center for recruiting and electing women of color in politics.

“I have been in electoral politics for 30 years and for most of that time, Black women have played an outsized role as voters and organizers, but have often been defeated by other Democrats in primaries because we were dismissed as unelectable,” Allison said.

“It’s a testament to the evolution of black women as political actors in this country,” Allison added. “Some of the things that have amazed us are somehow embedded in a system that has kept Black women out of the Senate. We have found other ways to be successful.”

House gets its first transgender member

McBride, a Democratic senator in Delaware, made history back in 2020 when she was elected as the country’s only openly transgender senator. This followed a surge in national recognition for McBride, who became the first transgender speaker to speak at a major party convention during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Her appointment to Congress comes at a time when transgender issues have proven contentious in American politics. From bans on biological men participating in women’s and girls’ sports and bans on books with LGBTQ themes to debates over gender-affirming pronouns and gender-neutral restrooms, the visibility of transgender people in politics could bring these issues to the forefront of debates about acceptance hold and tolerance.

After winning her primary in September, McBride said she was running for Congress not to make history but “to make historic progress for Delawareans.”

Advocates welcome progress but acknowledge that representation still lies ahead

In the 50 years since the Center for American Women and Politics began tracking gender equality and racial diversity in politics, progress often comes when Democrats do better in the election cycle.

“We haven’t seen the same gains in the Republican Party,” said Kelly, the center’s research director. “It is very clear that this is a one-sided story. And if we want to achieve gender parity in elected office, it will be difficult to achieve it on either side of the aisle, just in terms of numbers.”

Allison said that if long-standing problems of social and economic inequality are not addressed by their parents’ generation, the youngest generation of future American voters may not always see racial and gender diversity as crucial.

“You can’t just argue about representation,” she said. “It’s difficult because it’s not enough. The first step in creating this multiracial democracy is creating an American government that serves all people.”