The midterm elections in the United States overturned the Republican majority in Congress and shattered some glass ceilings, allowing Democrats from minority backgrounds to rise to top positions.
Here is an overview of these unprecedented victories.
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An African American Governor
Kisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman to hold that office in the entire United States.
On her campaign website, she identifies herself as a descendant of a family of slaves on a Georgia plantation, a state located in the heart of the Deep South, which has been marked by slavery and racial segregation and later became a battleground in the struggle for civil rights.
From 2018 to 2022, she served as mayor of Atlanta, the state’s largest city.
An Indigenous governor and an Indigenous senator
Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became the first Native American to assume the office of governor in the southwestern state of New Mexico.
She had already made history as the first Native American woman to hold a cabinet-level position when she served as Secretary of the Interior under former President Joe Biden.
In the northern part of the country, in Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan also became the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She had previously served as the state’s lieutenant governor.
An openly gay senator
Greek-American Chris Papas, who was elected in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, became the first openly gay senator.
Aged 46, the son of a Greek-American family known in the state as the owners of a restaurant chain, Chris Papas had served in the House of Representatives since January 2019.
As a representative, he became known for his support of the Equality Act, the major Democratic bill that aims to enshrine protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in federal law.
Following his victory, he appeared alongside the man he describes as his “wonderful husband.”
An African American as Speaker of the House of Representatives?
The current Democratic caucus leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is being considered to take over as Speaker of the House following the sweeping majority his party won.
He could thus become the first African American to preside over the House of Representatives.
These election results reflect “a massive rejection of hatred and division,” Bill Simbler, director of strategy at the civic organization State Voices, told Agence France-Presse.
“These new leaders don’t emerge overnight,” he emphasized. “They come from communities that organize between elections.”
SEE ALSO: LIVE U.S. Elections: Double Victory for Democrats, Who Won Both the Senate and the House of Representatives | AlphaNews
Source: APE-MPE
