The US midterm elections have ushered in a slew of historic wins, shattering racial and gender ceilings, among other barriers, for races at the state and national level.
Here are some of the ways winning candidates are making history:
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1. First Black female governor in US
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, won victory over Republican billionaire Rick Jackson in the Georgia governor’s race to become the first Black female governor in the country.
Bottoms had faced scrutiny over her rocky single-term tenure as mayor between 2018 and 2022, during which time violent crime surged. But on the gubernatorial campaign trail, she emphasized her ability to fight the Trump administration.
Bottoms has also made history as the first Black person and woman to occupy Georgia’s top office.
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2. First Muslim in the US Senate
Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s highly contested Senate race, defeating Republican Mike Rogers to become the chamber’s first Muslim member. His identity frequently came under attack throughout the race from both Rogers and Trump.
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3. California’s first elected Latino governor
Xavier Becerra has made history as the state’s first elected Latino governor. Becerra broke through a crowded Democratic primary after an underwhelming start. He was widely favored to defeat Republican challenger and conservative pundit Steve Hilton, given the state’s Democratic stronghold. The son of Mexican immigrants, Becerra is set to govern over a state where more than 40% of its residents identify as Latino.
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4. Texas’s first Latina governor
Democrat Gina Hinojosa pulled off a stunning upset, unseating the three-term governor Greg Abbott. She will be the state’s first Latina governor and the first Democrat to win the office since 1990. Hinojosa’s campaign gained little traction at first, as Abbott trounced her in campaign funding.
She soon became a fierce contender, touting her focus on affordability and opposition to new data centers, the latter of which made Abbott vulnerable to criticism.
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5. First female Native American governor
Deb Haaland, the former US interior secretary, comfortably won New Mexico’s gubernatorial race.
Haaland thanked voters in a Tuesday night X post. “You chose a future where New Mexico comes first, where working families have a chance to get ahead, and where every New Mexican has a voice,” she wrote. “Whether you voted for me or not, I will always be your governor, too. Because this campaign was about all of us, and the future we deserve.”
Haaland is a member of Laguna Pueblo.
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6. Florida’s first Black governor
Republican Byron Donalds will be Florida’s first Black governor, succeeding Ron DeSantis who has reached his term limit. The three-term congressman, whom Donald Trump endorsed, made affordability central to his campaign, while avoiding mention of the unpopular war with Iran and ensuing spike in oil prices.
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7. First gay man elected to US Senate
Chris Pappas, a New Hampshire representative, was elected to the US Senate, making him the first out gay man to serve in the chamber.
Pappas tore into Trump, Elon Musk and others who backed his opponent, John Sununu, at a victory party with his spouse, Vann Bentley, standing nearby.
“They threw money, attack ads, and outright lies at us every day for months,” Pappas said. “But we beat them anyway, didn’t we?”
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8. First Native American woman elected to Senate
Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, is the first Native American woman to be elected to the US Senate. Flanagan is Ojibwe and a member of the White Earth Nation.
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9. First Black governor of Wisconsin
David Crowley won Wisconsin’s governor race, becoming the first Black person to hold the office. Crowley’s victory came against many odds: He dropped out of the race over the summer, only to rejoin at the urging of outgoing Democratic governor Tony Evers, and his Republican opponent, Tom Tiffany, greatly outspent him.
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10. First female governor of Ohio
Amy Acton, a Democrat, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to become Ohio’s first female governor. The final weeks of the campaign were dominated by a much-criticized ad, which the Ramaswamy put millions of dolllars behind, featuring Acton’s estranged mother calling her daughter a liar. Acton’s mother lost custody of her children after her husband, Acton’s stepfather, was accused of raping Acton at the age of 12.
