US midterms 2018: The candidates who made history
From the first Muslim congresswomen to the first openly gay governor of a US state, we look at who’s making history.
This year’s US midterm elections have already made history, with a record number of women, Native Americans, and Muslim candidates running for office.
Commenting on the Democrats taking the House, CNN’s Van Jones pointed to the diversity of candidates that won seats in this midterms.
Keep reading
list of 4 itemsFears of AI disinformation cast shadow over Turkish local elections
Senegal opposition candidate Faye won 54 percent in presidential vote
Argentina claims to be sheltering Venezuelan opposition leaders in embassy
Jones said on Tuesday night that the “new Democratic Party” is now “younger, browner” and cooler”.
“It is the end of one-party rule in the United States, thank God, and the beginning of a new Democratic Party: Younger, browner, cooler, more women, more veterans.”
As results from Tuesday’s votes continue to stream in, here are the candidates who have made history:
Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar
First Muslim women elected to Congress
Both Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar won in their Democrat-safe seats becoming the first Muslim congresswomen.
Tlaib was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents, and Omar arrived in the US at the age of 14 after fleeing civil war in Somalia.
Omar is also the first Somali American to serve in the US Congress.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Youngest woman elected to Congress
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th District and has now made history as the youngest woman to join Congress.
Born to a father from South Bronx and a mother from Puerto Rico, Ocasio-Cortez was an organiser for the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.
Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids
Joint first Native American women elected to Congress
Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, is the first Native American woman elected to Congress, alongside Sharice Davids.
Haaland said she will prioritise climate change, as well as a number of other progressive issues, such as Medicare-for-all and debt-free education.
Davids is a Cornell Law School graduate and professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter, who was raised by a single mother.
She is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, a Native American tribe that hails from Wisconsin.
The former White House fellow under Obama, is openly gay and an advocate for LGBT issues. She was elected to the third congressional district in Kansas.
Jared Polis
First openly gay governor
With a net worth of close to $400m, Democrat Jared Polis is already one of the richest members of the House of Representatives but in winning the Colorado gubernatorial contest, he became the first openly gay governor of a state.
Ayanna Pressley
Massachusetts’s first black congresswoman
Democrat Ayanna Pressley surprised many when she upset 10-term incumbent Michael Capuano during Massachusetts’s 7th Congressional District primary.
She ran uncontested on November 6 to become the state’s first black congresswoman.
Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia
Texas’s first Latina congresswomen
In a state with a Hispanic population of close to 40 percent, in 2018 Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia became the first women of Latin American origin to represent Texas in the House of Representatives.
Escobar was elected to Texas’s 16th District, while Garcia won the state’s 29th District.
Lou Leon Guerrero
First female governor of a US territory
Democrat Lou Leon Guerrero won Tuesday’s election by a broad enough margin that she would not have to face a runoff vote.
She became the ninth governor-elect of Guam, which has a population of some 162,000. Her victory marked the first time in 15 years that Democrats controlled the territory’s governorship.
BREAKING: U.S. territory Guam elected its first ever female governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, flipping the governorship to Democrats for the first time in 15 years. pic.twitter.com/lTu3HV45rl
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 7, 2018