By AARON MORRISON, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) – Voters on Tuesday elected two black women to serve simultaneously in the Senate for the first time and sent an openly transgender lawmaker to Congress. It’s a historic election in nearly a dozen races that shows Americans are opting for more diverse representation, including on issues such as gender equality and equal opportunity. affirmative action and LGBTQ inclusion cause deeper divisions.
Delaware Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland Angela Alsobrooks prevailed in their elections, doubling the number of black women elected to the Senate from two to four. And Delaware voters elected Sarah McBride in a general election to the House of Representatives, making her the first openly transgender person to reach Congress.
The victories come in an election year defined in part by historic firsts.
“The celebration of these milestones serves two purposes: First, it celebrates the growing diversity we are seeing in women’s political representation, whether on a state or national scale,” says Kelly Dittmar, research director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
“But at the same time, it reminds us that we have work to do,” Dittmar said, noting that American women overall are not fairly represented in elected office and that black, Hispanic and Asian Americans, as well as Native Americans, lag behind their percentage of the population.
Other historic firsts in the Senate on Tuesday include Andy Kim of New Jersey, who became the first Asian American elected to represent the Garden State. in the Senate and also 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 U.S. Senate.
Never have two black women held a Senate seat at the same time. Kamala Harris was 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 female representation until California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to a vacancy created by the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Blunt Rochester, a Democrat currently representing Delaware’s congressional district, becomes the first woman and the 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’s remarkable to think that two years from now, America will be celebrating its 250th birthday,” Alsobrooks said during a victory speech Tuesday night. “And in all those years, there have been more than 2,000 people who have served in the United States Senate. Only three have looked like me.”
“And so I want to salute 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,” he added to cheers from his supporters.
His victories bring the number of black members of the Senate to five, the largest number in history. However, the 100 members of the Senate have historically been, and continue to be, mostly white men.
“We have increased the representation of black women in the Senate by 100%,” stated Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People, a national organizing center for the recruitment and election of women of color in politics.
“I’ve been in electoral politics for 30 years, and for most of that time, Black women have played a prominent role as voters and organizers, but have been defeated, often by fellow Democrats in primaries, because we were deemed 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 perplexed us are part of a system that has kept black women out of the Senate. We have found other ways to be successful.”
House of Representatives to have its first transgender member
McBride, a Democratic state senator in Delaware, already made history in 2020 when she was elected the nation’s only openly transgender state senator. That followed a surge in national recognition for McBride, who became the first transgender speaker to address a major party convention during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Her ascent to Congress comes at a time when transgender issues have been divisive in American politics. From banning biological males from playing female and feminine sports to banning LGBTQ-themed books to debates over gender-affirming pronouns and gender-neutral bathrooms, the visibility of transgender people in politics could keep these issues at the forefront of debates over acceptance and tolerance.
After winning the primary in September, McBride said he was not running for Congress to make history, but “to make historic gains for Delawareans.”
Activists celebrate gains, but point to work ahead for representation
In the 50 years since the Center for American Women and Politics began tracking gender equality and racial diversity in politics, gains have typically occurred when Democrats do better in the election cycle.
“We haven’t seen the same gains in the Republican Party,” says Kelly, the center’s research director. “It’s very clear that this is a one-sided story. And if we want to get to gender parity in elected office, it’s going to be hard to do it on one side of the aisle, just numerically.”
Allison asserted that the younger generation of future American voters will not always see racial and gender diversity as crucial if their parents’ generation does not address long-standing problems of social and economic inequality.
“You can’t argue solely about representation,” he said. “It’s hard to do that because it’s not enough. The first step in creating this multiracial democracy is to create an American government that serves all people.”
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