We may still be awaiting the final results from a few 2022 midterm election races, but what we’ve witnessed so far is already cause for big celebration. More than 40 million Americans voted early, and the overall voter turnout is the second highest in the history of midterms. Those votes brought a new wave of progressive officials to both federal and state governments, many of whom also hold the honorable distinction of being “the first”: This includes the nation’s first out lesbian governor, the first trans man elected to any state legislature, and the first Gen Z member of Congress.
If there’s any takeaway here, it’s that taking action, showing up, and staying hopeful is far from overrated. After all, it’s this not-so-secret sauce that ultimately led to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s (another first) 2020 win, and garnered some impressive results this year. Ahead, 12 newly-elected officials who already made history:
