Though Hillary Clinton didn’t end up with the big win, Tuesday was still a historic day of firsts for women in politics.
Across the country, women recorded gains in both national and state races. The number of women of color in the Senate shot from one to four, with victories in Illinois, Nevada and California.
Sens-elect Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., will join Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, come January. Hirono is the the first woman senator from Hawaii and the first female Asian-American senator in the country.
[READ: Death Penalty, Gun Control Win Big in Ballot Measures]
In Illinois Tuesday, Duckworth became the second.
Duckworth was born in Bangkok to a Thai mother of Chinese descent and a father who was a Vietnam War veteran. She is also military veteran who lost her legs during the Iraq War after being shot down in the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting in 2003.
Nevada elected the first Hispanic woman U.S. senator in Masto. The former state attorney general defeated GOP Rep. Joe Heck to fill the seat of Sen. Harry Reid, who is retiring after three decades in the Senate.
“Don’t you think it is about time that our government and the representation of our government mirrors the people that we serve everyday,” Masto said. “I am so excited to be the voice at the table for all of us.”
Also making history Tuesday was California Attorney General Kamala Harris, the second black woman elected to the Senate. The daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, Harris has broken race and gender barriers before — sworn in in 2011, she was the state’s first female attorney general.
Until last night, California had never before elected a black or Latino politician to the Senate. Harris defeated Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who is Latina, so regardless of the outcome, the state would have added one more woman of color to the Senate.
In New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan looks to take Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s seat. The race has cost $100 million, an almost unheard-of sum for such a small state. The latest vote total has Hassan hanging on to a 716-vote lead over Ayotte.
There are now 20 women who serve in the U.S. Senate, though that number will likely rise to the highest it’s ever been regardless of whether Ayotte retains her seat.
Women made gains outside the Senate as well.
[MORE: Colorado Joins 5 States to Allow Physician-Aided Death for Terminally Ill]
In Oregon Democrat Kate Brown was elected governor in her own right. She has been serving as governor for more than a year since predecessor, John Kitzhaber, resigned in scandal. But Tuesday she became the first openly LGBT governor elected in the country.
Kellyanne Conway is the first female campaign manager to win a presidential election, and the first woman to manage a Republican presidential candidate’s campaign. President-elect Donald Trump brought her into the campaign in August to help him win over female voters — and it worked.
“I didn’t even know I was the first female Republican campaign manager until someone pointed it out to me on Twitter, and I said that can’t be true,” Conway told MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow in August. “And then I realized, this must be such a small group of women … and I respect them enormously.”
More from U.S. News
Colorado Joins 5 States to Allow Physician-Aided Death for Terminally Ill
Hillary Clinton Likely Wins Popular Vote, But Loses Electoral College and the Election
Death Penalty, Gun Control Win Big in Ballot Measures
Hillary Clinton Wasn?t the Only Historic Female Candidate on the Ballot Election Day originally appeared on usnews.com
