The rough breakdown...
At least 110 women won their elections to be in Congress, with 98 women in the House and 12 women in the Senate. Historical note, women have never held more than 84 of the 435 seats in the House, so this is by comparison, a massive increase.
Additionally, 9 women won governors races and Guam elected its first ever female governor. 29 year old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest female to ever win a seat in Congress. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib both won, and are the first Muslim women to ever be elected to Congress.
Sharice Davids (among other things is a former MMA competitor) and Debra Haaland (from my own state) are the first two Native American women to win a seat in Congress.
On top of that, Jared Polis, the first openly gay male, won the seat of governor of Colorado.
So, what does all this mean? It means a great deal, and it also means nothing. Its a big deal from the standpoint of creating a more inclusive and diverse balance of elected officials who represent a cross section of America....the great melting pot, that's for sure. And it means nothing from the standpoint that once the hoopla wears down, they will go to their respective jobs and....go to work.
What I mean, by part of it means "nothing" is, they will write and vote on bills. They will find funding for the myriad of government programs and try to represent all of America. There will be no gay orgies, there will be no Sharia law, their will be no invasion of brown skin people, there will be no trying to evict white people, there will be no effort to emasculate white men, there will be no effort to have a national Pow-Wow day.
It will be people, just human being type "people"... doing their jobs.
And its also a test, of sorts. Susanna Martinez of New Mexico, was the first female and the first Hispanic to win the office of governor anywhere in the USA. And as a local resident, I can tell you she did not accomplish one goddamn thing. Her 8 years of "rule" is now over, and if one looks at her achievements, there is absolutely nothing there. Her main claim to fame after winning, was a well known drunken party at a hotel in Santa Fe where people were throwing beer bottles (or some type of similar items) off the roof and her trying to "muscle/intimidate" the police with her 'title" once they showed up to investigate the fiasco.
My point is, as an Independent voter, as someone that votes for the "person" their intellect, their integrity, their honor and judgment, I don't really care if its male or female, gay or straight, black, white, Asian, Muslim, Methodist, Atheist, Agnostic, pan-sexual, asexual, trisexual, or a once Orthodox but now reformed Jew who had a sex change and then another one to change back to their original state. I am "hiring" (by way of electing) a "person" to do a job. That job is to represent me, my family, my city, my state, and my country, to the best of their ability.
So, they won and we have placed a great deal of trust in them. Lets hope they live up to those expectations. I would like to once again be able to be a...proud American, something I have struggled with the last couple of years, but more than that, I would like to be proud of the human race.
I want to be impressed and proud of these women because of their minds...
And the goodness of their hearts...
I don't really care about their vaginas...because I have one of my own :)
A few of the winners photos below.
