By Kayla Smernoff
Howard University News Service
The 2024 election led to historic appointments for multiple African American candidates, and some voters are hoping for more with the prolonged congressional count.
One week after Election Day, the Senate has confirmed a Republican majority while the House has 14 seats that are still undecided.
“As the voting shakes out, we may see some more surprises here,” said Sonya Ross, the founder and editor-in-chief of Black Women Unmuted and the first Black woman elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association. “So, there is plenty to be excited about this election.”
The unprecedented election of Black politicians is one factor making some voters excited.
Two Black women will serve in the U.S. Senate simultaneously — Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks from Maryland.
They are two of only four Black women who were ever elected to serve in the Senate, the first being Carol Moseley Braun in 1993 and then Kamala Harris in 2017.
Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell are also making history as the the first two Black Alabamian to serve together in the House of Representatives.
“By sending Shomari Figures to Washington, those voters finally get the chance to claim their seat at the decision-making table,” Sewell said in a statement. “I look forward to having him as a partner in Congress and working on behalf of all Alabamians, especially those whose voices have yet to be fully heard.” .
Laphonza Butler, the first openly LGBTQ African American to serve in the Senate, concluded her tenure there after being appointed to replace Dianne Feinstein after her death in 2023. Butler announced she was not running for election to return to the Senate.
“Something that has been very elusive for Black women politically did finally come to fruition this election and that was a significant — statewide election to office with the two Black women being elected to serve in the U.S. Senate,” Ross said.
In addition, Janelle Bynum is Oregon’s first Black member of Congress. Bynum defeated the Republican incumbent in the 5th Congressional District for her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Alexandria, Virginia, a city that turned 275 years old in 2024, voted in its first Black female mayor. Alyia Gaskins is a Democrat and former council member for the city of Alexandria.
Up and down the ballot as in Alexandria, voters across the United States delivered history for Black people and more specifically Black women — despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump and fears about the implementation of Project 2025.
The Heritage Foundation and members of Trump’s inner circle prepared the conservative presidential playbook known as Project 2025, which calls for dismantling parts of the federal government.
“We have a semblance of a precedent for this,” Ross said, noting that the Heritage Foundation also influenced the policies of President Ronald Reagan.
The dilution of state and federal grants for college tuition under Reagan as California’s governor and then as president, for example, “laid the foundation for the student loan industrial complex that we all witness today,” Ross explained.
“We as a people survived that, and we will survive this.”
Kayla Smernoff is a reporter for HUNewsService.com
