More than 100 women were sworn in as representatives in the U.S. House on Thursday. Never before have so many women served in the House at one time, and Thursday’s swearing in captured the exhilaration and joy of the diverse class of women joining Congress.
Kamala Harris, a U.S. Senator from California, captured the mood by tweeting a striking picture of some of the new women representatives.
Tomorrow is going to be a historic day on Capitol Hill, with over 100 women being sworn in to the 116th Congress — a new record.
The future is bright. 📷: Martin Schoeller pic.twitter.com/XTOSr0C4iB
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 2, 2019
Harris also called the swearing in “truly a historic day.” Twitter users celebrated the new women joining Congress, replying to Harris’s tweet with support for the newest members of Congress.
The incoming class of representatives is one of the most diverse in history, including Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, the first Native American women to serve in Congress. Haaland wore a traditional Pueblo dress to her swearing in. The incoming class also features the first Muslim women in Congress, the first congresswoman to wear a hijab, and the first Palestinian-American congresswoman. In addition, Iowa sent women representatives to the House for the first time ever, and Texas sent two Hispanic women to the House for the first time.
Of course, there was also unprecedented queer visibility among yesterday’s incoming representatives. Angie Craig was sworn in as the first openly gay representative from Minnesota, and Katie Hill is the first openly bisexual congresswoman from California. Sharice Davids, in addition to being one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress, is also the first lesbian Kansas congresswoman.
On the Senate side, Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona became the first openly bisexual senator.
One of the most remarkable parts of the day was seeing the strong support for the new representatives from other elected officials like Kamala Harris, and the outpouring of love from women throughout the country who tuned in on C-SPAN and Twitter to watch the ceremony.
The newly elected representatives are already getting to work, and we can expect this new delegation of women and queer representatives to continue to kick ass and take names throughout this year’s congressional session.
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