Nov 6, 2024 - Politics & Policy
2024 Election: Historic firsts you might have missed
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Across branches and levels of government, Tuesday's election results included firsts for gender, race and age of winning candidates.
The big picture: Voters backed a White House ticket slated to include the oldest president and one of the youngest vice presidents, while securing wins for two Black, female senators and the first transgender person elected to Congress.
Here are some of the milestones:
Trump: Oldest and first felon president-elect
- At 78 years old, Trump became the oldest person elected to the White House.
- He became the first U.S. president to be a convicted felon in May after being found guilty of 34 felony counts in his New York criminal trial. Now, he's the first felon elected to the presidency.
Vance: First millennial in the White House
- At 40 years old, Vance is one of the youngest elected vice presidents and the only millennial.
- He will also be the first former Marine to be vice president, per the Washington Post.
- His wife, Usha Vance, will be the first Indian American and Hindu second lady.
Rochester and Alsobrooks: First Black women to serve in Senate together
- Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) and Prince George's County, Maryland, Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) became the first Black women elected to represent their respective states on Tuesday.
- It'll be the first time two Black women serve in the Senate at the same time.
McBride: First transgender person elected to Congress
- Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride (D) on Tuesday won her race to become a U.S. representative for the state's only congressional district.
- She was already the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the U.S.
Morrison: first pro-abortion rights OB-GYN in Congress
- Kelly Morrison (D) will represent Minnesota's third congressional district and become the first pro-abortion rights obstetrician-gynecologist in Congress.
- Congress' two OB-GYNs, retiring Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), both supported the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, per the Wall Street Journal.
Fedorchak: North Dakota's first woman representative
- Julie Fedorchak (R) will be the first woman to represent North Dakota in the House, leaving Mississippi behind as the only state that hasn't elected a woman to the congressional chamber.
Other milestones
- Texas state Rep. Julie Johnson (D) became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to Congress from the South, per the Washington Post.
- Rep. Andy Kim (D) will be the first Korean American in the Senate and its third-youngest member, per the New York Times.
- Bernie Moreno (R) will be the first Latino senator from Ohio, per CNN.
- Yassamin Ansari (D) became the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress, per CNN. She will represent Arizona in the House.
In state and local races, Danny Avula (D) became the first-ever immigrant and Asian mayor of Richmond, Virginia. He will be the city's first non-Black mayor in more than 20 years.
- Josh Stein (D), currently North Carolina's attorney general, will become the state's first Jewish governor.
Go deeper: America chose Trump with eyes wide open
