Black Women in the U.s House of Representatives
Women will gain at least 14 seats in the 117th Congress, setting a new record for female representation.
In 2018, the nation elected 127 women – and 48 women of colour – to the Firm and Senate. Next January. three, at least 141 women, including 51 women of color will be sworn in. Eight races involving women had however to be chosen every bit of November. 16, meaning this number could withal grow.
Women will exist at least 27% of the Business firm and 24% of the Senate. The Senate numbers exercise not include Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, or Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican involved in a runoff that will take place after Congress is sworn in. Women make up 50.52% of the U.Due south. population.
A stiff showing by Republican women helped drive this tendency, with at least 36 serving in the adjacent Congress, compared to 22 currently.
Throughout my 20-plus year career every bit a political science professor, I've studied women's representation in mayoral, congressional, gubernatorial and presidential elections.
Here'south my look at the female person demographics of Congress following the 2022 elections.
In it to win it
It is often said that "When women run, women win," and 2022 also saw record numbers of women running in congressional elections.
In total, 643 women were candidates in congressional primary elections, including a record number of Asian or Pacific Islander, Latina, Middle Eastern or Northward African and Native American women.
Black women also set a new record in 2022 with 117 entering primaries for the House and 13 for the U.South. Senate, co-ordinate to the Center for American Women and Politics.
Belongings onto gains
Many of the women outset elected to Congress in 2022 retained their seats.
All four members of "the Team" were reelected. These women – Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib – are Democratic women of color known for their progressive policies, including the Green New Deal.
Likewise re-elected were women first elected in 2022 like Illinois Democrat Lauren Underwood, winner in a predominantly white Republican district; Jahana Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut; and Georgia'south Lucy McBath, Democratic winner in a district that had been held past Republicans for almost four decades.
These re-elections evidence that their victories in 2018's "pinkish moving ridge" weren't a fluke and that they take real staying power in Congress.
In some 2022 congressional races, African American women ran confronting each other – a sign of their strong participation. For example, Florida's Val Demings, Florida's Frederica Wilson and Georgia'southward Nikema Williams – who will succeed the late civil rights icon John Lewis – won their congressional races later defeating other Black women.
Notable newcomers
The freshman class in the House of Representatives will include at least 26 women serving their first term.
Cori Bush, a Black Lives Affair activist, became Missouri's showtime Blackness congresswoman. She represents a commune that includes the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson, the site of the police killing of African American teenager Michael Brown in 2014. Ferguson also elected its commencement Black and get-go female mayor this year.
Bush defeated African American U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay. Dirt and his father represented the commune for over 50 years.
Other women of colour joining the House for the first time include sometime Telemundo announcer Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican who unseated Donna Shalala in Florida, and attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico.
Marilyn Strickland, the onetime mayor of Tacoma, Washington, will be the first Korean American woman elected to Congress and the first Black representative from Washington Country.
Some underdogs didn't arrive
So who lost?
Arkansas' Joyce Elliott, a quondam teacher and veteran state legislator, came up brusk in her bid to become the first African American congressional member from Arkansas.
Florida's Pam Keith, a military veteran and attorney, lost past a wide margin to her Republican opponent.
Patricia Timmons-Goodson, the start African American member of the Northward Carolina Supreme Courtroom whose federal judicial nomination past Barack Obama was blocked by Republicans, failed to win a seat in Congress.
Also coming up short was Tennessee's Marquita Bradshaw, a unmarried mother and ecology activist who would have been Tennessee's kickoff Blackness female congressional member if she had won.
California'southward Tamika Hamilton, Georgia'southward Vivian Childs, Maryland's Kimberly Klacik and Ohio'southward Lavern Gore are all Republicans who ran in mostly urban Democratic districts, merely none won on ballot night. All Black female congresswomen – with the exception of Utah'due south Mia Love, who served 2 terms in the House – have been Democrats, suggesting that the path to victory is specially steep for Blackness Republican women.
Candace Valenzuela would accept go the get-go Afro Latina in Congress, but lost her race for Texas' 24th congressional commune to Republican Beth Van Duyne, a former Trump administration official.
Although they lost, their candidacies hint that more women of color will go along to run for Congress as both Democrats and Republicans and may just win next time.
A white human's government?
For almost of its history, the members of both Houses of Congress accept been white men.
The monotony began to break in 1916 when Montana's Jeannette Rankin won election as the first female person congresswoman. In 1964, Hawaii'southward Patsy Mink became the first Asian American elected to congress. The kickoff Latina, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, was elected in 1989.
In 1968, the late Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman to serve in Congress. Four years later, two more Black women arrived in Congress, Barbara Hashemite kingdom of jordan of Texas and Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke of California.
Chisholm chosen Black women "catalysts for alter" in politics. Rep Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, one time tweeted, "I cannot be intimidated and I'one thousand not going anywhere."
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Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality suggests Black women are discriminated confronting because of the "intersection" of their racial, gender and class identities. 1 issue is that they see disadvantages when running for part.
Some of the women I've mentioned faced disadvantages related to their race, gender or course when running against well-funded incumbents. Yet, my work in the field of women and politics too suggests that the long tradition of Blackness female political leadership in America is gaining momentum. Despite some women's losses, their representation has, and will continue to, increase in Congress.
Source: https://theconversation.com/a-record-number-of-women-will-serve-in-the-117th-congress-including-at-least-51-women-of-color-149736
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