The 2020 elections saw a record number of candidates of Native American heritage win their congressional races for seats in the US House of Representatives.
Democrats Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo member representing New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a Ho-Chunk Nation member representing Kansas, retained their seats after becoming the first Native American women elected to Congress, in 2018.
Yvette Herrell, a Cherokee, who is Republican, beat the Democratic incumbent Xochitl Torres Small for her New Mexico congressional seat. Herrell and Holland’s wins make New Mexico the first state to have two indigenous women as representatives in the congress. New Mexico is also the first state to have all three delegates to the House of Representatives to be women of colour. This year, 18 indigenous women were running for congressional seats— a record in a single year.
Republican representatives in Oklahoma— Tom Cole and Markwayne Mullin— both of Native American heritage retained their seats in the Congress.
Stephanie Byers belonging to the Chickasaw community from Kansas became the state’s first transgender lawmaker as she won her race for a seat in its house of representatives. 26-year-old Christina Haswood, a Navajo Nation member, was elected to the state legislature. Ponka-We Victors, a Tohono O’odham and Ponca member, won her re-election campaign to the Kansas legislature.
Other significant firsts in this election include Democrat Sarah McBride who was elected to be Delaware state senator, who is the first openly transgender person to win the position in any state. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat won a seat in the House, is poised to be the country’s first Black and openly gay congressman.