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Historic Election Wins for Muslims, Women, and LGBT

Historic Election Wins for Muslims, Women, and LGBT
By Leopaltik1242 [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons
Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Jared Polis, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Presley are breaking barriers.

Women, Muslims, and the LGBT communities have been significantly underrepresented in government.

Historic Election Wins for Muslims, Women, and LGBT[/tweetthis]

That’s beginning to change as a record number of women are projected to win seats in the House. CNN has projected that about 100 women will win House races.[/tweetit] Of these 100 women, 65 women are female incumbents, and 35 women are newly elected to the House. It's a step in the right direction. The Congressional Research Service has data which says the previous record sat at 85 representatives.

It’s not only a win for women. The LGBT community will celebrate a victory as Colorado has just elected its first openly gay elected governor, Jared Polis.

Rashida Tlaib also gets a slice of cake as she breaks barriers by winning in her race to represent parts of Detroit and its suburbs. Ilhan Omar has also become the first woman of color to be elected to Congress. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are both Muslim women and are pioneers of progression.

Ilhan Omar isn’t just the first Muslim woman in Congress. Omar, who is also the first Somali-American member of Congress, came to the U.S. more than twenty years ago as a refugee. Tlaib has actually campaigned with Omar ahead of Omar’s primary race which happened earlier in the year.

Ilhan Omar’s is the first woman of color to represent Minnesota in Congress, the first woman to wear a hijab, the first refugee elected to Congress and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

Rashida Tlaib and Omar are also pushing progress. They both support policies such as Medicare for all and a $15 minimum wage. They will join other women of color who will change the makeup of the halls of Congress which has historically been overwhelmingly white and male. There are other firsts such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has become the youngest woman elected to Congress and Ayanna Pressley who has become the first black congresswoman in Massachusetts.

The wheels of progress are spinning. Let’s do our best to make sure they don’t slow down but speed up.

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