Women smashed records this election cycle in terms of the number who filed to run, the number of women who became their party's nominees for House, Senate and gubernatorial races, and even the number of women running against women in general election races. Women made history this Election Day, with the highest-ever number projected to win seats in the House of Representatives: As of early Wednesday morning, 96 women have reportedly won House races, with 31 women newly elected to the House and 65 female incumbents. Democrat Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, defeated the Republican incumbent in Kansas’s Third Congressional District by nine points, becoming not only the first Native American woman elected to Congress, but also the state’s first openly gay representative — and the first former mixed-martial-arts fighter. Davids’ win in Kansas against GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder was a pickup for Democrats, who CNN projects to gain control of the House. In New Mexico, Haaland will replace Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who vacated the seat to run for governor, and Davids will unseat Kansas GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder. Davids is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and Haaland is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, according to their respective campaigns. Davids identifies as a lesbian, making her the first openly LGBT member of Congress from Kansas as well. The women elected in this year’s midterms include Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress, as well as Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar, the first Latina congresswomen in Texas. Omar, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, already the nation’s first Somali-American legislator, is now the state’s first woman of color elected to Congress. Rep. Marsha Blackburn became the first female senator to represent Tennessee when she outlasted a challenge from former Gov. Many first-time candidates this year were inspired to run for office, at least in part, by the 2016 presidential election — both the fact that the first female major-party nominee ever lost, and that Donald Trump, who is very unpopular among women (particularly Democratic women), won. Arizona is guaranteed to elect its first female senator, with two women — Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally — facing off in a close race after Jeff Flake’s departure. Texas voters elected the state’s first two Hispanic women to Congress as Veronica Escobar won the seat to replace Rep. Beto O’Rourke in the congressional district near El Paso. Georgia candidate Stacey Abrams, a Democrat, was in a fierce battle to become America’s first black woman governor, while Democrat Andrew Gillum narrowly lost his bid to become the first black governor of Florida.
At least 95 women attain congressional office, bringing the total number of women in all parts of Congress to a record 118. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar share the distinction of becoming the first Muslim congresswomen, while Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland become the first Native American congresswomen.