A record number of women will serve in US Congress

World Today

New Mexico congressional candidate Deb Haaland embraces a supporter during her visit to the Albuquerque Indian Center for the Native Vote Celebration in Albuquerque, New Mexico midterms election night Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Haaland and Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids were elected the first two Native American women to serve in Congress. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche)

The U.S. midterm election was historic in breaking race and gender barriers. More women than ever ran for office and won.

CGTN’s Karina Huber reports from New York.

Washington is about to get a lot more female. The midterm elections saw a record number of women winning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to the elections, there were 84 female representatives. Now, there will be at least 95, with the vast majority of them Democrats.

The female victories come on the back of the #MeToo movement and the election of Donald Trump. It provoked women’s marches across the United States and motivated many women to run for office for the first time.

Connecticut Democratic Congressional Winner Jahana Hayes became the first black Democrat from Connecticut to win a seat in the House. Two Democratic candidates, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, will be the first Muslim women in Congress come January.

Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland will be the first female Native American representatives, and at 29 years-old, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York will be the youngest woman in Congress.

Republican women also scored some wins. Tennessee elected its first female senator, Marsha Blackburn. However, Blackburn’s views will be the minority among the women headed to Washington this January. Most of the new female representatives are more liberal, diverse and critical of Trump’s policies.