Female minority candidates making history in Congress

PHOENIX (AP/KSAZ) -- The 2018 Midterm elections are marked by a number of women who won, but a number of minority female candidates are making history with their successful election.

Kansas

In Kansas, voters elected Democratic newcomer Sharice Davids over incumbent GOP representative Kevin Yoder. Davids has become the nation's first LGBT Native American candidate to be elected to Congress.

The 38-year-old activist, lawyer and political newcomer already garnered national attention as part of a crop of diverse Democratic candidates.

Yoder was endorsed by President Donald Trump, but the suburban Kansas City district voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. The district is a mix of fast-growing bedroom communities, established suburbs and poorer city neighborhoods.

Davids emerged from a six-person Democratic primary and energized voters and Democratic donors by emphasizing her biography. Her history includes mixed martial arts fights.

She's a member of the Wisconsin-based Ho-Chunk Nation and was raised by a single mother who served in the Army and worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, Democratic candidate Ayanna Pressley has become the state's first black woman elected to Congress.

Pressley is also the first African-American to serve on the Boston City Council. She sailed through Tuesday's general election to Congress unopposed, two months after unseating 10-term Rep. Michael Capuano in a primary that was a national political stunner.

With no Republican in the race in the heavily Democratic district, her upset victory in the primary had all but assured Pressley the House seat, with only the remote possibility of a write-in campaign to potentially stop her.

"None of us ran to make history," Pressley told supporters in her acceptance speech Tuesday. "We ran to make change. However, the historical significance of this evening is not lost on me. The significance of history is not lost on me."

New Mexico

The Associated Press is reporting that Debra Haaland won election to a house seat in New Mexico. According to reports from FOX affiliate KRQE-TV in Albuquerque, Haaland is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna native tribe, and both of her parents have served in the Armed Forces.