A night of historic firsts: 2026 midterm election winners set new milestones for diversity and generational change

Midterm elections often fail to bring the enthusiasm that surrounds a general election, but this was no ordinary year.

Americans across the country went to the polls and delivered a significant rebuke of President Trump and candidates who support him. Democrats took back the House and the Senate, flipping long-standing red states like Texas along the way. 

Election results are still rolling in, but an incredible number of historic milestones have already occurred, from the first Muslim American U.S. Senator to the country’s first Native American woman governor. 

Read on for some of the historical accomplishments of the 2026 midterm elections:

• New Mexico’s Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, is the country’s first Native American woman elected governor. 
• Gina Hinojosa has been elected the first Hispanic governor of Texas. 
• New York has elected its first all-woman gubernatorial ticket, with Kathy Hochul winning reelection. Her running mate, Adrienne Adams, has become the first Black woman elected lieutenant governor in the state. 
• Keisha Lance Bottoms is the first woman and the first Black person elected governor of Georgia. Bottoms is one of five Black governors elected on Tuesday, marking the first time multiple Black governors will serve at once. 
• Amy Acton has become the first woman governor elected in Ohio. 
• Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will serve as the first Muslim U.S. Senator. 
• California has elected its first modern Latino governor, Xavier Becerra. 
• New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas is the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate. 
• Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, from Minnesota will be the first Native American woman serving as a U.S. Senator. 
• Nevada elected Aaron Ford as its first Black governor.  
• Amy Klobuchar will serve as Minnesota’s first woman governor. 
• South Carolina’s Annie Andrews becomes the state’s first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. 
• David Crowley will be Wisconsin’s first Black governor. 
• New York’s Claire Valdez, a citizen of Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo tribe, will be the state’s first Native American Congresswoman. 
• Colorado elected Melat Kiros as the first Gen Z woman in Congress.
• Adam Hamawy will be New Jersey’s first Muslim member of Congress. 
• Michigan will send Jeremy Moss to Congress, the state’s first openly gay man in the position. 
• Nebraska elected its first Hispanic member of Congress, Denise Powell.
• Tennessee elected its first woman governor, Marsha Blackburn.

This story is developing and may be updated…