The diverse statistics include the election of seven African American senators, five African American governors, 17 women governors, one Native American governor in New Mexico, two Latino governors in California and Texas, and 116 Democratic women in the U.S. Congress.
Georgia Governor Lance Bottoms, an African American;
Wisconsin Governor David Crowley, an African American;
Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa, a Latina
Florida Governor-elect Byron Donalds, an African American
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim American.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, an African American who was reelected to a second term
New Mexico Governor Deb Haaland, a Native American (former Secretary of the Interior)
New Hampshire Senator Chris Pappas the first openly gay male senator,
Senator
Hakeem Jeffries will become the first Black U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives
Xavier Becerra will be California's first Latino governor
This follows other firsts:
Barack Hussein Obama president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
Kamala Harris served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. An African and Asian American.
Zohran Mamdani 2026 Mayor of NY Cities first Muslim and first Asian American mayor.
Keisha Lance Bottoms first Black mayor mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022.
African American pioneers:
Jesse Jackson Sr. was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. launched a presidential campaign in 1984. Initially viewed as a fringe candidate, he finished third for the Democratic nomination behind former vice president Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart.
Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of state under George W. Bush, 8th Director of the Stanford's Hoover Institution.
Andrew Jackson Young He served as a U.S. congressman from Georgia, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and mayor of Atlanta.
Colin Powell - U.S. Army officer who served as the 65th U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first Black person to hold that position. He also served as National Security Advisor and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
John Lewis U.S. representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district . A key figure in the civil rights movement and frequent associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he participated in the Nashville sit-ins and Freedom Rides and was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Led the Selma to Montgomery marches, where he was brutally attacked by state troopers on "Bloody Sunday."
Shirley Chisholm - the first Black woman in the United States Congress
Thurgood Marshall became the first Black associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. His most famous victory was the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
Stacey Abrams served in the Georgia House of Representatives, including as minority leader. Abrams gained national attention as the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, becoming the first African American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States.
Much more needs to be learned about why black candidates often do not run. New research suggests that many people act strategically, avoiding races where their chances of winning seem low. Given obstacles in many past elections, black candidates contemplating public service may very well be wary of becoming the first to challenge longstanding representational barriers.
Barbara Jordan - first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and one of the first southern African American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
See 25 African American politicians who raised the bar for their community
And African Americans in the people page
Politics