Women in Power
Iihan Omar is the first Somalian elected to the House of Representatives, for Minnesota.
On November 8, 2016 many women of minority made gains in the US Senate and House and local election. All the Senate new comers are all Democrats.
Tammy Duckworth of Illinois the first Thai-American Senator, Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada the first Latina Senator, and Kamala Harris of California the nation’s second Africa-American female Senator.
Other Women that made history Tuesday were Pramila Jayapalwho will soon be the first Indian-American women in the House of Representatives winning an open seat in Washington State’s seventh Congressional district. Stephanie Murphy first Vietnamese-American women elected to congress will represent Florida, beating Republican John Mica, who has represented the district since 1993. Katie Brown of Oregon is the nation’s first openly LGBT governor and Ilhan Omar, practicing Muslim who wears a hijab was elected to Minnesota House of Representative, American’s first Somali-American legislator.
The 2016 election marks a significant move toward gender and ethnic parity. With women constitute 50.8% of overall US population, only 21% are US Senators, 19% of House of Representatives and African-American, Asian, and Hispanic women make up 18% of population but only hold 6% of seats in Congress. Charles Rex Arbogast- Photographer
