Election featured fabulous firsts

America will have to wait for its first woman president, but feminists and those tracking other firsts in our nation’s development may take heart. Others of our gender marked several historical firsts in American public office Tuesday. Together they comprise a reminder that our melting pot is shifting, and the nation’s collective face will soon no longer be definable by one set of characteristics.

First Latina U.S. Senator: Catherine Cortez Masto won one of Nevada’s Senate seats. She’s the granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant, and a former Nevada attorney general.

First Indian-American U.S. Senator: California’s former attorney general is now Sen. Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India and father is Jamaican-American. She’s now the first black U.S. senator from California, second black woman to serve as senator, and first Indian-American senator.

First Indian-American in U.S. House: Washington’s Pramila Jayapal is the first Indian-American woman to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Born in India, she immigrated to America as a teenager.

First Vietnamese-American in Congress: Florida’s Stephanie Murphy is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees and immigrated to the U.S. when she was just a year old.

First refugee in the legislature: Ilhan Omar came to the U.S. as a child after her family escaped the Somali civil war, and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Ms. Omar now represents her district in the Minnesota Legislature.

First LGBT Governor: Oregon is the first state to elect an openly LGBT governor. Kate Brown has been serving as governor since the previous one left office after being elected, but has now won her own race.

It may not be long before such firsts become old news, before public offices reflect the variety and breadth of the human experience. Only then will government truly represent all the governed.

“The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.” — Johannes Kepler

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.