The First Black Female Governor of the United States, CA-SA: Democrat Shirley Weber, California’s First Black Secretary of State, CNN Projects
While the overall midterm election results may not be known for hours or even days in some spots, candidates from both parties are already celebrating historic victories.
Both Democrats and Republicans made strides in diversifying their congressional ranks in the November midterm elections, with several historic milestones reached and a record number of women elected.
Republicans are excited about growing their roster of female governors and electing more Latino members to the US House. Democrats are on track to make a breakthrough for LGBTQ representation in governor’s offices.
The Governor of MA-GOV. CNN thinks that the first out lesbian Governor of the US is going to be Democrat Maura Healey in Massachusetts. Healey, the current attorney general of Massachusetts, will also be the commonwealth’s first elected female governor.
Election results are still coming in, and many races won’t be called for days, if not weeks. CNN predicts that some of the candidates in the congressional elections in the years to come will become the first to make history.
CNN predicts the first ever elected female senator from Alabama will be Republicans and they are going to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Moore. Britt is a former CEO of the Business Council of Alabama and was the heavy favorite in the general election in the deep-red state. Two women were appointed to fill vacancies in the Senate and previously represented Alabama.
The first woman elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas will be a Republican, according to CNN. The lieutenant governor’s seat became open after Sanders entered the GOP gubernatorial primary and was originally sought by the attorney general. Arkansas lieutenant governors are elected on different tickets.
CNN predicts that Robert Garcia, a Democrat, will be the first LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress in the 42nd Congressional District in California. Garcia, who immigrated from Lima, Peru, in the early 1980s at the age of 5, is the current mayor of Long Beach.
CA-SOS: Democrat Shirley Weber will be California’s first elected Black secretary of state of state, CNN projects. Weber, a former state assemblywoman, has been serving in the position since last year after Newsom picked her to succeed Padilla, who was appointed to the US Senate.
CA-AG: Democrat Rob Bonta will be California’s first elected Filipino American attorney general, CNN projects. Bonta was appointed to the position last year when he was appointed to succeed Xundice Becerra who had become President Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary.
I hope you are doing well CNN expects the first Latina to be elected to Congress from Illinois, when it projects that Democrat Delia Ramirez will win the election. Ramirez, a Chicago-area state representative and the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, was also the first Guatemalan American to serve in the Illinois General Assembly.
FL-13. : Democrat Maxwell Frost will be the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress, CNN projects, winning the open seat for Florida’s 10th Congressional District. Generation Z refers to those born after 1996. Frost will succeed Democrat Val Demings, who vacated the seat to run for Senate.
The 25-year-old representative-elect told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Wednesday that when President Joe Biden called to congratulate him, the President recalled being too young to be sworn in as a senator when he was first elected at age 29.
CNN: LGBT, il-17, Sorensen, Marlin, Ok-SEN, MD-LG, PA-LG: A Native American Congressman elected to Congress from Maryland
Frost, who made reducing gun violence a central part of his campaign, also told CNN that he will work to pass universal background checks in Washington.
IL-17: Democrat Eric Sorensen will be the first out gay person elected to Congress from Illinois, CNN projects, winning election to the state’s 17th Congressional District. Esther Joy King will be defeated in the race by a former Quad Cities-based weatherman in the new Congress.
MD-LG: Democrat Aruna Miller will be the first Asian American lieutenant governor of Maryland, CNN projects. Miller, who immigrated to the US with her family from India as a child, is a former member of the state House of Delegates. She was elected on the same ticket as Moore.
MI-10. John James is set to become the first black Republican elected to Congress from Michigan, according to CNN. James, who lost bids for US Senate in both of the last two years, will defeat Carl Marlinga in the open seat race for the redrawn suburban Detroit district.
The NY-01 and NY-03. : Republican George Santos will be the next congressman from New York’s 3rd Congressional District, CNN projects, winning the first House election between two out gay candidates. Santos, an investor and the son of Brazilian immigrants, will defeat Democrat Robert Zimmerman for the Long Island-based seat.
According to CNN, Marcy Kaptur will be the longest-serving woman in Congress when she is elected to represent the 9th Congressional District in Ohio. Kaptur, who was first elected in 1982 and is currently the longest-serving woman in House history, will break the record set by Barbara Mikulski, who represented Maryland in the House and Senate for a combined 40 years.
OK-SEN: Republican Markwayne Mullin will be the first Native American senator from Oklahoma in almost 100 years, CNN projects, winning the special election to succeed GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe, who is resigning in January. Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Robert Owen, who was also a member of the Cherokee Nation, was a Democrat in the Senate from 1907 to 1925.
PA-LG: Democrat Austin Davis will be the first Black lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, CNN projects, winning election on a ticket with gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro. There is a Pittsburgh-area seat that Davis represents in the Pennsylvania House. He will be elected on a ticket with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro.
PA-12. CNN believes that Summer Lee will be the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. Lee, a Pittsburgh-area state representative, will succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle.
VT-AL: Democrat Becca Balint will be the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont, CNN projects, winning election to the state’s at-large district. With Balint’s win, Vermont will lose its distinction as the only US state never to have sent a woman to Congress. The president of the state Senate will be the first gay person elected to Congress from Vermont.
VT-AG: Charity Clark will be the first woman elected attorney general of Vermont, CNN projects. Clark worked for the Attorney General until he left in June for a private sector job.
Prior to winning the open-seat race for Vermont’s at-large district, the Democrat said that she wanted all people to feel like they could have a place in government. “If my breaking these glass ceilings enables people to see themselves in those roles, that is really exciting to me.”
The state’s at-large house seat became vacant after incumbent Peter Welch decided on a successful Senate run.
The House Progressives Caucus has a new vice chair, who will serve as a new member. She previously told CNN that her congressional priorities will include taking action to address the housing crisis and finding more resources for mental health, especially in her home state. The health of our democracy is the first and foremost thing on her list.