The 2020 General Election saw many first-time victories around the country, with both a record number of BIPOC women who ran for federal and state offices this year and LGBTQ+ victories on election night.
Sarah McBride won the race in Deleware’s first Senate district, becoming the first transgender state senator and the highest-ranking transgender official in all of the United States’ history.
“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” she tweeted after her victory.
New Mexico will send three women of color to Congress—the first time in the state’s history. Democrat Deb Haaland, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna and identifies as a 35th generation New Mexican, was re-elected to serve New Mexico’s 1st congressional district. Republican Yvette Herrell, of the Cherokee nation, will represent the 2nd district in the Senate, and Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez is the first woman and Latina to represent northern New Mexico in the 3rd district.
“The people of New Mexico have chosen to protect what we love—our democracy, our planet, our families and communities, our health care and our future,” Fernandez wrote when she led in the polls.
In Oklahoma, the state’s first nonbinary state legislator was elected. Mauree Turner, who uses she/they pronouns, is the state’s first Muslim represenative and first Black politican to represent the 88th district.
“A lot of people don’t know how much you risk putting your name on the ballot if you are not a white cis het man and it was a lot of work to get here,” she told the local news on Election Day.
The 2020 Congressional race in Missouri marks the third time Cori Bush ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. She finally achieved victory and became the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress, as a representative of the state’s 1st district. Bush got her start in politics after protests broke out in Ferguson in 2014. As a single mom, nurse, and ordained pastor, she sees her victory as a win for many people.
“To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers. This is our moment,” she said after her win.
Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres became the first Black gay members of Congress when they prevailed in New York. Jones will represent the state’s 17th district and Torres will represent the 15th, which includes the Bronx. Jones tweeted on the day before the election: “My grandmother used to clean homes in Congers. When daycare was too expensive, she took me with her. Now I get to run to represent the same people whose homes I watched my grandmother clean growing up. My story, quintessentially, is that of the American Dream.”
In addition to the House and Senate races, the three non-voting delegates who won seats in the 117th Congress are women of color. Amata Coleman Radewagen represents the American Samoa territory in the House of Representatives, Washington, DC is represented by Eleanor Holmes Norton, and the Virgin Islands send Stacey E. Plaskett to the House. Radewagon and Plaskett have served as delegates since 2015, and Norton has been in office since 1991.
In the United States’ two hundred and forty-four-year history, a Congress has never been more diverse. It is about time that our lawmakers not only reflect the populations that they represent, but help rather than harm those populations. Americans dream of a life of liberty and justice for all, and with more voices than ever in the halls of our government, we can only hope that dream will become a reality sooner rather than later.
