US MIDTERMS DELIVER HISTORIC FIRSTS AS DEMOCRATS SWEEP VOTE

Elections across the United States on Tuesday delivered sweeping wins for the Democratic Party and a series of historic firsts. Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor's race in Georgia, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of any US state. Chris Pappas won a US Senate seat in New Hampshire, becoming the first openly gay man elected to that chamber. Deb Haaland won the governor's race in New Mexico, becoming the first Native American woman elected governor. Abdul El-Sayed contested a tight race in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the Senate; accounts differ on whether that race had been decided.

Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, defeated Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, ending more than two decades of Republican control of Georgia's governorship. Pappas, a member of the US House since 2019, said "no one should be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love." Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, defeated Republican Gregg Hull; she previously served as US Secretary of the Interior under former president Joe Biden. El-Sayed, a former medical administrator, campaigned on a promise to make healthcare free. Bill Shiebler of the civic network State Voices called the results "a huge rebuke against hate and division."

Shiebler said the results showed "an electorate that increasingly sees itself in its leaders," calling it part of "a multiracial democracy working as it's intended." The wins in Georgia, New Hampshire and New Mexico each marked a first for that office. Georgia's result ends Republican control of the governorship there after more than twenty years. The outcome of Michigan's Senate race remained subject to differing accounts at the time of reporting.