US midterms deliver a string of historic firsts in key races
What's new: Georgia elected the first Black woman governor, while New Mexico and Texas picked their first Native and Latina women governors.
The 2026 US midterm elections produced a series of milestone victories as voters chose candidates who would become the first in their offices. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms beat Rick Jackson to become the first Black woman elected governor in US history and the first Democrat to win the state's governorship since 1998. In New Mexico, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland won the governor's race, becoming the first Native American woman elected governor. In Texas, Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa was projected to become the state's first Latina governor. Other notable wins included Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, set to be the first openly gay man in the Senate, and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, on track to become the first Muslim senator.
Sources
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