Why US elections are historic: first Missouri black woman & first transgender senator

Whoever becomes the president of the United States is sure to be historically tense elections. Yet there are also a number of other first times that make the elections historical anyway.

Democrat Cori Bush is the first Missouri black woman to represent her state in the national House of Representatives. She won the primary with support from the Black Lives Matter movement. Bush beat William Lacy Clay, who has served ten terms as a Democratic Deputy. “This is the first change in this district. We are going to love each other, respect each other, honor each other to change the face of this district,” Bush said after her victory.

In the state of Delaware, on the US East Coast, Sarah McBride has been elected the first transgender senator in the US. She took 86 percent of the vote in her race for a seat in the Delaware Senate. She becomes the highest-ranking official in the US who is openly transgender. “With Delaware still facing the corona crisis, it is time to get to work and invest in the policies that will make a difference to working families,” tweeted McBride.

Ritchie Torres of New York has been elected a member of the United States House of Representatives as the first African-Hispanic gay member of the House. “It shows how far we have come as a society. Congress will be as diverse and dynamic as America itself,” said Torres.

Joe Biden as a presidential candidate has the most votes cast in US history. He thus shatters the previous record held by Obama: in 2008, he set the record with nearly 69.5 million votes for a president.

Finally, the US states of Nebraska and Utah voted by a large majority to remove slavery from their states’ constitution. Slavery had already been banned, but another 19th-century exception allowed it as a punishment for a crime.