With the recent 2018 Midterm Elections, 124 women have been elected to office in the United States. Here are 5 amazing women that have recently been elected to Congress and have also made history.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY-14
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman to ever be elected to the United States Congress. She is a progressive Democrat from New York’s 14th district and an advocate for Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, Gun Control Reform, Criminal Justice Reform, Immigration Justice, and Climate Change. Ocasio-Cortez grew up in the Bronx and realized early on the injustices that were implemented from living in a certain zip code. She later went on to study Economics and International Relations at Boston University. After graduating from college, she went back to her community and started to work on issues that impacted her life while living in the Bronx. The struggles in her life have led her to understand different sides of law and policy. Ocasio-Cortez’s candidacy in the NY-14 was historic, making her the first candidate to run without any lobbyist money and ultimately the youngest member of Congress.
Sharice Davids (D) KS-3
Sharice Davids, as of the 2018 Midterm Elections, is one of the first Native Americans to be elected to the United States Congress. Davids is a proud Kansan, who believes that change needs to be made in the way that the KS-3 district is represented in Congress. Davids earned her law degree from Cornell and focuses on equity and opportunity for all. As a Native American and daughter of single mother, she is passionate about the fight for equity. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and has both lived and worked on Native American reservations to work with the tribes on different opportunities and initiatives. Davids is one of the first Native American women to be elected to Congress.
Ilhan Omar (D) MN-5
Ilhan Omar is one of the first Muslim-American women to be elected to the United States Congress. Omar was born in Somalia and fled to a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States. She and her family settled in Minneapolis, where at the age of 14, she began to have an interest in politics. Omar became the first Somali-American Muslim legislator in the U.S in 2016. She is an advocate for Universal Healthcare, Access to Public Education, Immigration Justice, Gun Control Reform, and LGBTQ+ and Women’s Rights. Omar will become one of the first Muslim-Americans to be elected to Congress.
Ayanna Pressley (D) MA-7
Ayanna Pressley is the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress in Massachusetts. Pressley was raised in Chicago by a single mother, who taught her the importance of activism and participation in politics. Pressley is passionate about making sure that people are given a voice in the decisions made through policy. She is currently living in Dorchester, MA. Before this election, she was named one of New York Times’ 14 Young Democrats to Watch. Pressley has been involved in the passing of legislation such as the Boston Public Schools’ wellness policy and was the co-founder of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute. She is an advocate for equity agendas, including public health, immigration, the environment, and education. In this midterm election, Pressley became the Black woman to be elected to Congress in Massachusetts.
Veronica Escobar (D) TX-16
Veronica Escobar is one of the first Latinx women to be elected to the United States Congress. Escobar is third-generation in El Paso, Texas. During her time serving as a county judge, Escobar worked on issues such as the expansion of healthcare access, internal reforms of county government, and advocates for justice for immigration/border communities on the U.S.-Mexico Border. She is a supporter of expanding our economy, saving the environment, expanding services for veterans, and providing access to affordable healthcare. In the 2018 midterm election, Escobar became one of the first Lantinx women to be elected to Congress in Texas.
For more information about all of the women elected in the Midterm Elections, you can check out this LA Times article.