When Sen. Laphonza Butler was sworn in to the Senate in October 2023, she joined a small — and lonely — club: being a Black woman in the United States Senate. And when her term concludes at the end of this year, she’s hoping her departure doesn’t create a void.
With Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks running for the open Senate seats in Delaware and Maryland, respectively, there’s a possibility that two Black women will serve in the Senate at the same time — a first in the more than two centuries since the U.S. Senate first convened in 1789. And in the Senate alone, there are currently more men named John or Jon than there have ever been Black women.
At a panel discussion Friday moderated by political commentator Angela Rye at the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference, Alsobrooks, Butler and Blunt Rochester spoke about the importance of having Black women in the Senate, and in politics.
