At the same time, in the midst of the Republican wave in Florida, the first elected representative of Generation Z (those born after 1996) – a Democrat – entered Congress.
And a rising star of the Democratic Party becomes governor of Maryland, becoming the first black person elected to that office in that state and the third in the United States.
Tour of the horizon.
Massachusetts: first lesbian woman elected governor
Massachusetts was the scene of three historic firsts on Tuesday, bringing its first female governor, Democrat Maura Healey to power. She too became, by extension, the first openly lesbian governor in US history.
Additionally, with his colleague Kim Driscoll as lieutenant governor, this women’s team becomes the first of its kind in American history.
Massachusetts attorney general since 2015, Maura Healey graduated from Harvard University with a degree in administration and public service. She largely won the race against her opponent, Republican Geoff Diehl, backed by Donald Trump.
Arkansas: a 100% female Republican duo
The conservative state of Arkansas also made history on Tuesday by electing its first female governor, Sara Huckabee Sanders. She became famous as a White House spokesperson under former President Donald Trump after leading his campaign in 2016.
He follows in the footsteps of his father, Mike Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas for a decade.
Arkansas has also changed that by electing, as in Massachusetts, a 100% female first duo to the positions of governor and lieutenant governor.
Maryland: a first black governor, rising star of the Democratic Party
Democrat Wes Moore became the first black governor in Maryland’s history on Tuesday and the third black governor elected in the United States.
Additionally, Wes Moore was able to transfer power to the Democrats after two terms of Republican Larry Hogan, still one of the country’s most popular governors, who had received the consent of Donald Trump.
Wes Moore is a newcomer to politics and a rising figure in the Democratic Party. Entrepreneur and philanthropist, he led a campaign on child poverty, safety and the protection of the right to abortion.
Additionally, Maryland elected the first woman of Asian descent as lieutenant governor and the first black person as attorney general.
Florida: a young Democrat in the middle of a red tide
Maxwell Frost, 25, became the first elected member of Generation Z, or people born after 1996, to enter the United States Congress on Tuesday.
He won the race in the 10And district of Florida, that of the city of Orlando. Recall that Republicans made significant gains in Florida on Tuesday, overturning four formerly Democratic seats in the House of Representatives.
Maxwell Frost ran a broad campaign on the issue of gun control. In November, he tweeted that he started being active at age 15 because he feared he would be shot in school following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, in 2012.
Vermont, Alabama and New York: women take their place
Vermont lost its unenviable place on Tuesday as the only US state that has never elected a woman to the US Congress. Democrat Becca Ballint, also a member of the LGBTQ + community, won. Charity Clark also first became the state attorney general on Tuesday.
In Alabama, Republican Katie Britt became the state’s first elected female senator, while Democrat Kathy Hochul won the race to be New York State’s first female governor.
This reportage was produced during an internship at the Radio-Canada office in Washington thanks to a scholarship from the Fondation de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
