The 2014 midterm elections brought a slate of American political firsts: Congress will receive its first Republican black congresswoman, West Virginia is home to the youngest legislator in the country, and Congress has reached the milestone of 100 women serving at once. Here’s a roundup of the most notable results.
First black Republican congresswoman
Utah Republican Mia Love made history twice on Tuesday. She is the first and only black Republican woman to be elected to Congress, and is also the first Haitian-American elected to Congress.
Love, love this pic of @MiaBLove & her father as her victory became apparent. *This* is what tonight looks like! pic.twitter.com/mt0MOoU4v3
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) November 5, 2014
Love eked out a narrow victory over her Democratic opponent Doug Owens in Utah’s fourth congressional district. She was born to Haitian parents in Brooklyn, before becoming a Mormon and moving to Utah, where she was mayor of the small town of Sarasota Springs.
First black senator elected in south since Reconstruction
Republican Tim Scott became the first black senator elected in the south since the 1870s, and only the fifth to serve in the Senate, when he was elected by South Carolina voters on Tuesday.
Scott was favored to win and defeated two challengers to keep his seat. He was appointed to the Senate in 2012 following the resignation of Senator Jim DeMint. Scott was endorsed by Tea Party groups.
New Jersey’s first black congresswoman
Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman won central Jersey’s 12th congressional district. She’s the first black woman that state will send to Washington DC, and she’s also the first congresswoman elected by the state in more than a decade, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
First female senator in West Virginia
Shelley Moore Capito is the first woman that West Virginians will to send to the US Senate. The seven-term Republican House member is also the first of her party to be elected to the Senate in more than 55 years, according to the Associated Press.
Congress has 100 women serving at once, finally
Cumulatively, these women make another first. One hundred women will serve together in Congress for the first time, after several women won in midterm elections, according to Slate. Women in the Senate didn’t even have their own bathroom near the floor until 1993; the House followed in 2011. No, that wasn’t a typo.
Transgender woman could be elected to Nevada state legislature
Votes are still being tallied in Republican Lauren Scott’s race against Democratic incumbent Michael Sprinkle. Only one polling district was reporting as of 10am Eastern time. Sprinkle led Scott by nearly 8 points.
The nation’s first openly gay state attorney general
Maura Healy is the first openly gay state attorney general after Massachusetts voters elected the Democrat. She was a leading advocate against the federal Defense of Marriage Act, struck down by the supreme court in 2013, and is a former assistant attorney general. By the time she resigned to run for office, she held a leadership position as an assistant attorney general, already managing more than half of the attorney general’s 500 employees, according to the Boston Globe.
A first for the next Bush generation
Despite a long history of Bush family members holding elected office, George P Bush accomplished a family-first Tuesday. He won the first race he entered – every other Bush has suffered defeat in their first political contest. George P won election as Texas land commissioner, a little-known but powerful position could lead to higher office.
George P Bush is nephew of the former president George W Bush, nephew of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, grandson of George Bush Sr and great grandson of Prescott Bush, a US senator, according to CBS News.
Two-time loser makes first
Scott Brown makes history as the first candidate to lose to 2 different women Senate candidates. #nhsen #womendecide pic.twitter.com/7nXDNFHQ8X
— EMILY's List (@emilyslist) November 5, 2014
Scott Brown became the first US Senate candidate to lose twice to different women, when he was bested by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. He also lost to now-US senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in 2012 in Massachusetts.
Youngest state legislator in the country
Saira Blair became the youngest state legislator in the country, after West Virginians elected her to the house of delegates to represent a small district about an hour and a half from Washington DC.
The fiscally conservative Republican is an 18-year-old freshman at West Virginia University. She campaigned out of her dormroom, according to the Wall Street Journal.
