Black women win historic Senate victories in two states for the first time

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

Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland won their races, doubling the number of black women ever elected to the Senate from two to four. And Delaware voters elected Sarah McBride in a sweeping House race, making her the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.

The victories come in an election year shaped in part by historical events.

“Celebrating these milestones has two purposes: First, it celebrates the growing diversity we see in women’s political representation, whether at the state or national level,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the University’s Center for American Women and Politics Rutgers. .

“But at the same time, it reminds us that we still have a lot of work to do,” Dittmar said, noting that U.S. women as a whole are not represented fairly in elected office and that blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans, as well as Native Americans, lag behind their share of the population.

Other historic Senate firsts on Tuesday included Andy Kim of New Jersey, who became the first Asian American elected to represent the Garden State in the Senate, as well as the first Korean American elected to the Senate. Republican Bernie Moreno of Ohio became the first Latino to represent the state.

Black women make history in the US Senate

Never have two black women served in the Senate at the same time. Kamala Harris was only the second Black woman and first South Asian woman to serve in the Senate before she was elected vice president. There was no Black women representation in the House from 2021 to 2023, until California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed LaFonza Butler to fill the vacancy left by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

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

“It’s remarkable to think that in two years America will be celebrating its 250th anniversary,” Alsobrooks said during his victory speech Tuesday night. “And over all these years, more than 2,000 people have worked in the US Senate. Only three were like me.”

“And so I want to salute all those who came before me, who allowed me to stand on this stage tonight, whose sacrifices and stories I will continue to carry with me,” she added to applause from supporters.

Their victories increased the number of black members of the Senate to five, the most in history. However, the 100 members of the Senate have historically been and continue to be predominantly white men.

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

“I’ve been involved in electoral politics for 30 years, and for most of that time, black women have played a huge role as voters and organizers but have been defeated, often by fellow Democrats in primaries, because we have been dismissed as unelectable,” Allison said.

“This is a testament to the evolution of black women as political players in this country,” Allison added. “Some of the things that have us stumped are sort of built into a system that prevents black women from getting into the Senate. We found additional ways to achieve success.”

House will get its first transgender member

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

Her election to Congress comes at a time when transgender issues have become divisive in American politics. From bans on biological males participating in girls’ and women’s sports and bans on LGBTQ-themed books to debates over gender-affirming pronouns and gender-neutral bathrooms, the visibility of transgender people in politics can keep these issues at the forefront of debates about acceptance. and tolerance.

After winning the primary in September, McBride said she was running for Congress not to make history, but instead “to achieve historic progress for the people of Delaware.”

Lawyers welcome progress, but note that work remains on representation

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

“We haven’t seen the same level of success in the Republican Party,” said Kelly, the center’s research director. “It’s very clear that this is kind of a one-sided story. And if we want to achieve gender parity in elected positions, it will be difficult to do on the one hand, even in quantitative terms.”

Ellison said the youngest generation of future American voters may not always see racial and gender diversity as crucial if long-standing issues of social and economic inequality are left unaddressed by their parents’ generation.

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