The United States will have two black women in the Senate for the first time

For the first time in its 250-year history, the United States will have two black women occupying seats in the Senate at the same time. Furthermore, in the last election, the number of black senators in total (five) is also the highest in the country's history. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware are representatives of the Democratic Party.

Throughout the campaign, the two senators always called each other “future sister senators”.

Angela Alsobrooks

Angela Alsobrooks, a 53-year-old executive, will be the only woman representing the state of Maryland in the Senate and only the second in history. She will succeed Benjamin L. Cardin, a senator who will retire at the age of 81, after serving his third term. Alsobrooks competed for the seat with Larry Hogan, former governor of the state who had already served for two terms.

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_{Angela Alsobrooks during her campaign (Photo: reproduction/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Embed)}

Born and raised in Prince George's County, Alsobrooks graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She began her career as a local business attorney before becoming a domestic violence prosecutor when she was appointed an officer in the Jack B. Johnson County Executive Administration. Angela was elected state attorney for Prince George's County in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, serving as executive since 2018. She defeated former Representative Donna Edwards in the 2018 Democratic primary election and ran unopposed in the general election, winning re-election in 2022.

Lisa Blunt Rochester

Lisa Blunt Rochester is 62 years old and was part of the House of Representatives, where she had already been the first black woman to enter the space for her state. Additionally, Rochester will also be the first black person from his state to hold a Senate seat. She received support from the current US president, Joe Biden. The position that Lisa left vacant in the Chamber will be filled by Sarah McBride, who will be the first transgender woman working there.

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_{Lisa Blunt Rochester speaking at the Democratic National Convention (Photo: reproduction/Charly Triballeau/Getty Images Embed)}

Rochester began his political career working for Tom Carper, first in the House of Representatives, and later when he became governor of Delaware. She was appointed assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in 1993 and secretary of the Department of Labor in 1998. During the 2020 presidential election, Blunt Rochester was one of Joe Biden's campaign co-chairs.

The first black woman elected senator in the United States was Carol Moseley Braun, only in 1992, with a wait that took 220 years. 24 years later, in 2016, Kamala Harris became the second. Laphonza Butler was appointed in 2023 and became the third female senator to take office.

Featured photo: Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks (reproduction/Chip Somodevilla and Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Embed)