Candidates break barriers in several US races
(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 04, 2020 US Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) speaks during a news conference with members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus prior to State of the Union at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex EDELMAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Candidates broke barriers in several races in the US election, including in New Mexico, the first state to send a delegation to the US House of Representatives made up entirely of women of color.
The group will consist of Representative Deb Haaland, a Democrat who in 2018 became one of the first Native American women elected to Congress, Republican Yvette Herrell, who is also Native American, and Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez, who is Hispanic.
In Wyoming, Republican Cynthia Lummis on Tuesday became the first woman from the western state to win a seat in the US Senate.
The race in Wyoming was historic in itself as all candidates from both parties for the state’s delegation to Washington were women.
Among them was Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, who won a third term to the US House.
In Missouri, Cori Bush became the first black women elected to represent the state in Congress.
Also breaking new ground on Tuesday were Democratic candidates in the US states of Delaware and Vermont who became the first openly transgender legislators in their states.
Sarah McBride, 30, became Delaware’s first trans senator, taking 86 percent of the vote in the state’s first Senate district. She is also the first openly trans state senator in the United States and the highest-ranking trans official in the country.
“We did it. We won the general election. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she tweeted Tuesday.
“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too.”
Further north in Vermont, Taylor Small, 26, became the state’s first transgender representative, taking 43 percent and 41 percent of the vote in her two districts.
“5th trans legislator in the nation!” she tweeted.
Their wins come just a few years after Democrat Danica Roem became the first openly trans lawmaker in the US. Roem was elected to Virginia’s state assembly in 2017.
