Firsts for women and minorities in US midterm elections

US midterm elections have sent several candidates from underrepresented groups into office in historic firsts. New Hampshire voters elected Chris Pappas, making him the country’s first openly gay senator. Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo and former interior secretary under Joe Biden, was elected New Mexico governor; Gina Hinojosa became Texas’s first Hispanic woman governor, and Keisha Lance Bottoms the first Black woman governor in the United States. Amy Acton became Ohio’s first female governor, while Democrats Juliana Stratton, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks will be the first three Black women to serve in the Senate at the same time.