The midterm presidential elections in the United States, the so-called midterms, featured historic victories for underrepresented minorities in the richest country in the world. Black, Hispanic, Muslim, indigenous and gay people are among the candidates who have achieved pioneering feats in state or federal office.
Agência Brasil highlights some of the names that obtained marks at the polls that represent a leap in representation in American democracy.
Open gay
Democrat Chris Pappas is the first openly gay candidate to win a seat in the United States Senate. He was elected by the people of the state of New Hampshire.
Pappas, 46 years old, currently occupies a seat in the Chamber of Representatives, which is equivalent to the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil. The term of office of senators elected in the midterms will begin in January 2027. Since 2023, Pappas has been married to attorney Vann Bentley.
Despite being the first openly gay candidate to be elected, he will not be the first openly LGBTQIA+ representative in the Senate. Tammy Baldwin, Democrat from Wisconsin, is openly lesbian and was elected in 2012. She remains in office.
Muslims
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, 42 years old, won a seat in the United States Senate in the state of Michigan at the polls. In this way, the epidemiologist, son of Egyptian immigrants, becomes the first Muslim elected to the Upper House of the American Congress.
Immigrant rights activist Aber Kawas, 34, has won enough votes for a seat in the New York State Senate. The daughter of Palestinian refugees, she is the first Palestinian-American in the state Legislature.
According to international news agencies, Muslim Aber Kawas is also the first woman wearing a hijab (Islamic clothing that covers hair and neck) elected to the Legislative House.
Indigenous
The midterms exposed historic achievements of indigenous representatives. Democrat Deb Haaland, 65, was elected the first indigenous woman governor in the USA. Starting in January 2027, she will lead New Mexico for four years.
Deb Haaland, from the Laguna Pueblo community, was secretary of the United States Department of the Interior under then-President Joe Biden, from 2021 to 2025.
In the USA, departments are equivalent to ministries in Brazil. The Department of the Interior is responsible, among other duties, for the management of federal lands and natural resources and matters related to indigenous peoples.
Another pioneer belongs to Democrat Peggy Flanagan, 47 years old. She is the first indigenous woman elected to the United States Senate. She represents the state of Minnesota and is part of the Ojibwe people.
Democrat Claire Valdez also made history by being the first indigenous woman elected by the population of New York to represent the state in the House of Representatives. At 37 years old, she represents the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo people.
Just over 2% of the American population considers themselves indigenous, according to the United States Census Bureau (U.S. Census Bureau), taking into account those who declare themselves “alone”, that is, of a single race.
Blacks
Black politicians also played historic roles in the midterms. According to the Census, 13.5% of the population declares themselves black.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia and became the first black woman elected governor of an American state.
Byron Donalds, from the Republican party, was elected governor of Florida and will be the first black man to hold the position in the state.
Donalds is also the first black person elected governor in the entire history of the Republicans. The party once had a black governor, Pinckney Pinchback (Louisiana), in the 1870s. But he was a lieutenant governor who took over after the impeachment of Governor Henry C. Warmoth.
Louisiana is where, from 1841 to 1853, the real story that gave rise to the autobiography Twelve Years a Slave, written by Solomon Northup, took place. The drama, which was adapted into a film (2013), tells the story of a black man who was kidnapped in the north of the country and enslaved in the south.
At the time, part of the United States had already abolished slavery, but the backward south maintained the practice of forced labor.
Democrat David Crowley, from Wisconsin, will be the first black governor of the state, which has a 178-year history.
In Illinois, Democratic lieutenant governor Juliana Stratton won election to the United States Senate. She will be the sixth black woman to reach the House. Her election will make the state the first to have two racial minority women simultaneously representing it in the Senate. She will join Democrat Tammy Duckworth, an Asian American.
Women
The American polls made American women write their names in history as pioneers on the list of those elected to command state governments.
Democrat Amy Acton, 60, will lead the state of Ohio. Fellow Democrat Amy Klobuchar, 66, will lead Minnesota. Republican Marsha Blackburn, 74, will be elected governor of Tennessee.
Latinos
In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa broke a cycle in which, since 1995, only Republicans were elected to state government. Furthermore, at 52 years old and from a family with Mexican roots, she will become the first woman of Latin origin to head the state executive.
