After election night, the world stood still waiting on electoral votes to slowly trickle in. The question of ‘who the next president would be’ was still running through everyone’s’ heads in big bold letters. Although Americans held their breath, there were still many historic events and winners to come out of the night.

Victories 

Madison Cawthorn (R) became the youngest congressperson since 1797 at 25 years old. He was elected in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, beating Moe Davis (D) 54.5% to 42.4%. This self-described “constitutional conservative” plans to go against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to push his conservative ideals in the House.

Sarah McBride (D) was elected into the Delaware State Senate from the first congressional district, the highest political position held by an openly trans person to date in the U.S. McBride is the former national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and was a White House intern under the Obama administration. She plans to fight for issues such as justice system reform and expanding paid leave.

Mauree Turner (D) won Oklahom’s 88th district state House of Representatives election as the first non-binary legislator in American history. Taking 71% of the votes, Turner beat their Republican opponent also becoming the first Muslim Oklahoma state legislator.

Cynthia Lummis (R), former House of Representatives delegate, was elected to the U.S. Senate as the first female senator from Wyoming. Endorsed by President Trump and the NRA, she plans to fight against abortion, push for the border wall and uphold the second amendment. 

Mondaire Jones (D) and Ritchie Torres (D) from New York’s 17th and 15th congressional districts both became the first openly gay black and afro-latinx congressmen respectively. Torres was formerly on the NYC city council and worked to improve mental health resources for the LBGTQ+, combat the opioid epidemic and reform the daily interactions of the NYPD with ordinary citizens. Jones worked under the Obama administration and is a lawyer known for his hundreds of hours of pro bono work.

Historic Moments

Arizona, Montana, South Dakota and New Jersey all voted to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. Mississippi passed the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. In addition, Oregon legalized all drug possession, including heroin, cocaine and meth. Supporters of these results believe this will help slow the War on Drugs which is known to have disproportionately negatively affected black Americans.

Mississippi’s state flag incorporated the Confederate flag until it was retired in June of 2020 after being deemed racist due to its affiliations with the Ku Klux Klan. These past five months, Mississippi has been flagless until voters voted yes on a new flag this past election day. “The New Magnolia” flag featured a magnolia blossom surrounded by a circle of stars with the words “In God We Trust” at the bottom. A single five-point star at the top of the circle is to honor the Native tribes who lived on the land prior to Mississippi’s statehood. The flag was passed with a 68% majority vote.

Six indigenous congresspeople will be heading to the House of Representatives. With three Democrats and three Republicans, this is a record-breaking number for indigenous people representation in Congress. Four are returning members, but Yvette Herrell (R) and Kaiali’i “Kai” Kahele (D) will be joining them from New Mexico and Hawaii respectively.