Black Women break a US Senate barrier, winning two seats

Bloomberg | Two Black women, Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester, have won US Senate seats representing Maryland and Delaware, breaking another barrier in a 235-year-old institution long dominated by White men.

Only 12 Black people have served in the Senate, and only three of them have been women. Never before have two Black women been seated at the same time.

The two Democrats will be sworn into office steps away from a desk that belonged to Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester join Kamala Harris and Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois as the only other Black women elected to the Senate. A Harris ally, Laphonza Butler, was appointed to serve the remainder of the late Dianne Feinstein’s term, but did not run to keep the seat.

The victories were a bright spot in an otherwise disastrous night for Senate Democrats, who ceded their majority after losses in key states.

“So as I prepare to step foot on that trail blazed by three strong Black women senators who came before us,” Blunt Rochester said. “I have a message to the young people who are standing up, speaking up and giving your all for your country and the world. I see you, I’m grateful to you, and you got next.”

More than 2,000 senators have served throughout US history.

Next year, there will be a record five Black senators, with Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester joining Cory Booker of New Jersey, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Tim Scott of South Carolina – the only Republican in this batch.