The most diverse Congress in US history is already making headlines. A record number of 102 women have been sworn into the House to commence their two-year term. Women now comprise 24 percent of all seats – 106 female Democrats and 21 female Republicans.
What makes this Congress especially unique is its intersectionality – Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland became the first two Native American women to bag Congressional seats. Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim woman wearing a traditional Palestinian dress to win Congress seat from Michigan. Likewise Ilhan Omar is the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress, and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota.
Kyrsten Sinema represents LGBTQ representation as the first bisexual candidate in the Senate. She also represents religious diversity – the first and the only Congress member who identified as unaffiliated to any religion and to have sworn by the Constitution, rather than by a Bible. She’s also the first woman ever to represent Arizona.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, at age 29. Likewise Lauren Underwood at 32, has become the youngest black woman to serve. Underwood is the first woman and the first black person to represent the 14th Congressional District in Illinois.
Indeed, no other Congress has looked like this – and in these times of gloomy updates from power corridors, this one comes as a sigh of great relief and hope.