California's Kamala Harris, who will become the first Indian-American and just the second African-American woman to serve in the Senate.
There’s no denying that Tuesday was a bad day for Democrats in particular and American democracy at large. But looking beyond the presidential race, there were a number of bright spots across the country, both where Democratic candidates won important elections and where key progressive ballot measures were passed.
These sorts of developments, which often fall under the radar, might seem small compared to the debacle at the top of the ticket. But in fact, they’re more important than ever, since progressives now need to redouble our efforts to build the Democratic Party from the bottom up. We can’t win the bigger races without building up a bench by winning the smaller races first, and in a number of places, we did exactly that.
Let’s review some of the most prominent positives from 2016:
A Democratic Party that looks more like America
In Nevada, Catherine Cortez-Masto will become the first Latina to serve in the Senate, and in Illinois Tammy Duckworth will become the first Thai-American senator. In California, Kamala Harris is the first Indian-American senator and only the second African-American woman to serve in the Senate. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who is bisexual, is the first openly LGBT person to win a gubernatorial election. And Ilhan Omar was elected as a state representative in Minnesota, the first Somali-American legislator in the country. BuzzFeed has also listed some additional firsts for the new Congress. As America continues to grow more diverse, the Democratic party is following suit, while the GOP stubbornly refuses to embrace the changing country.
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