Politics

Women were elected to the House in record numbers

Record number of women elected to the House
VIDEO1:1101:11
Record number of women elected to the House

Democratic women flipped more than a dozen Republican seats, helping to seal the party's incoming majority in the House.

When the 116th Congress is sworn in early next year, it will include more female representatives than ever.

As of Wednesday morning, 98 women won seats in the House. That breaks the current session's record of 84.

The female victories spanned the country, from Virginia to Iowa to Oklahoma. What many of them had in common: suburban districts across red and blue states electing women newcomers.

In Kansas' 3rd District, Sharice Davids unseated GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder. She is a Cornell law graduate and former mixed martial arts fighter. She will be the first lesbian with Native American ancestry to serve in Congress.

Former service members also performed well, like Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's 11th District and Chrissy Houlahan in Pennsylvania's 6th.

Here are a few more of the women who grabbed Republican seats:

The trend didn't hold in the Senate. While Jacky Rosen did beat Dean Heller in Nevada, flipping the state blue, Josh Hawley unseated Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Kevin Cramer took a North Dakota seat from Heidi Heitkamp. In Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn held onto a Republican seat, beating Phil Bredesen.

The gubernatorial races looked more like the House. Of seven gubernatorial races that turned red to blue, four were won by women: Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Janet Mills in Maine, and Laura Kelly in Kansas.