On election night, Vice President Kamala Harris has the potential to make history and become the first woman, and the first woman of color, to be elected to the nation’s highest office. While much has been said about her historic candidacy, candidates across the country also have an opportunity to break barriers on election night.
In Delaware, Sen. Sarah McBride, a Democrat and the first openly transgender senator in the U.S., could transition to the U.S. House of Representatives and become the nation’s first openly transgender member of Congress. McBride easily defeated her main opponents in September, receiving almost 80% of the vote. She is widely considered the favorite in a contest against Republican John Whalen III, a retired police officer and former construction company owner.
If elected to Delaware’s only House of Representatives seat, McBride would replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat.
Blunt Rochester’s campaign also has the potential to make history. In the event that both Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic Senate candidate in neighboring Maryland, emerge victorious at the ballot box, the next Congress will be the first in which two Black women serve in the Senate simultaneously.
Only three black women have served in the Senate’s 235-year history: Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in the 1990s; Harris, who represented California before becoming vice president; and Laphonza Butler, who was appointed last year by Governor Gavin Newsom to represent California, succeeding the late Dianne Feinstein.
Should they both win, Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks would double the number of black women elected to the Senate to four (because Butler was appointed but not elected, and she is not running for election this year). But to do that, Blunt Rochester must defeat Republican Eric Hansen, a businessman running for public office for the first time, as he is widely expected to do.
Alsobrooks faces a tougher race against the state’s former governor, Larry Hogan, a Republican, although recent polls show her ahead.
The opportunity to be the first two Black women to serve together in the Senate was not lost on them. Blunt Rochester told The Associated Press that she and Alsobrooks already have a private text message chain and refer to each other as their “sister senator-to-be.”
Across the country, in Washington state, another senator could make history. Democrat Emily Randall has the chance to become the first LGBTQ+ Latina member of Congress.
Randall entered politics in 2018 and lost a Republican seat. Now running in the state’s 6th Congressional District, Randall would break a 91-year streak of sending only white men to the seat if she wins. And the odds are in her favor, as she is heavily favored to defeat fellow state Sen. Drew MacEwen, a Republican, in the left-leaning district.
Randall recently received the endorsement of The Seattle Times editorial board. “Her desire to improve access to health care and create jobs, especially in the rural areas of her district, is a worthy endeavor in Congress,” the board wrote.
Every time the votes are counted and the results are tallied, history is made. Time will tell what history will be made in 2024.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
