First Black woman governor, first Native American woman governor: winners and losers of the midterms

From the first Native American woman governor to the first Black Republican governor

Seven-term incumbent, three-term sitting governor among notable losers

Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms takes the stage at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis to deliver her victory speech after winning the Georgia gubernatorial race on Tuesday (local time). [AFP]

As in any election, Tuesday's US midterms produced new stars — and saw old ones fade.

In Georgia, Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms made history as the first Black woman ever elected governor in the United States. Georgia has long been considered a Republican stronghold, and its conservative character showed in the numbers: all 83 of its previous governors were white men. Tuesday marked the first time a woman — and the first time a person of color — had won the state's governorship.

Bottoms defeated Republican candidate Rick Jackson, a billionaire businessman, by a comfortable margin in what had been firmly GOP territory. The victory hands Democrats the Georgia governorship for the first time in 23 years.

Bottoms graduated from Georgia State University College of Law and served as mayor of Atlanta, the state capital, for four years beginning in 2018. After leaving office, she served as a senior White House adviser in the Joe Biden administration.

The midterms also produced the first Native American woman elected governor. Democratic candidate Deb Haaland defeated her Republican opponent to claim the governorship in New Mexico.

Haaland was one of the first two Native American women elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, breaking a political glass ceiling that had long constrained Indigenous women in public life. In 2021, the Biden administration appointed her the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history, as secretary of the interior — a post with particular significance given that the department oversees federal land and natural resources as well as relations with nearly 600 federally recognized tribal nations.

In a recent interview with the AP, Haaland said she merely hopes not to be the last. "I just don't want to be the last," she said, adding that she hopes more Native American women will take on roles in politics.

Byron Donalds of Florida, elected as the first Black man to win a governorship as a Republican. [Reuters]

On the Republican side, the party elected its first Black male governor. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Florida governorship, becoming the state's first Black governor.

A former finance professional, Donalds is a prominent Donald Trump ally and is regarded as a member of the party's hard-right wing. He entered the Florida state legislature in 2016 before winning a seat in the US House in 2020, expanding his political stage to the federal level. His name surfaced as a potential vice-presidential pick during the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas won a Senate seat in New Hampshire, becoming the first openly gay man elected to the US Senate. When Pappas first won his House seat in 2018, he had already made history as the first openly gay person elected to federal office from New Hampshire.

In Illinois, Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton defeated her Republican opponent in a state Senate race. Starting next year, three Black women will simultaneously represent Illinois in the US Senate — the first time in Senate history that all of a state's senators have been Black women.

Yet the midterms also brought a string of defeats for long-established Washington figures. Maine Sen. Susan Collins lost her bid for a sixth term to Democratic candidate Troy Jackson. Collins had served five terms in the seat, and while the race had been closely contested, it ultimately ended in defeat for the veteran lawmaker.

Ann Wagner, a seven-term Missouri congresswoman and former US ambassador to Luxembourg, fell to Democratic candidate Fred Wellman, ending her bid for an eighth term. In the gubernatorial races, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — a Republican serving his third term since 2015 — lost to Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa. Given Texas's strong Republican lean, the defeat of a three-term incumbent governor at the hands of a Democratic challenger was widely seen as a major upset.

kate01@heraldcorp.com