Three black women have never served simultaneously as U.S. senators. That may change this year

Only three Black women served within the United States Senate from its creation in 1789.

That could change this year if Republicans Barbara Lee of California, Republican Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Prince George’s County, Maryland Chief Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Lisa Blunt Rochester win the 2024 elections.

Lee, Rochester and Alsobrooks’ goal is to not only break the present record, but in addition double it. “It’s about what we contribute, what we contribute as Black women, that has never been part of a coherent policy debate in the United States Senate, and it’s time,” Lee said in an ABC News segment.

“I have been in this House for many years. But it’s time for me to go to the Senate and be among the 100 because I truly believe that the perspective that I bring and the lens that I bring is missing in the United States Senate,” he added. Leeward uninterrupted.

It was only last year that Laphonza Butler was appointed to the Senate following the death of Dianne Feinstein in California. In 2017, then-Senator Kamala Harris began her four-year term, leaving the position when she became vice chairman. That was 24 years after Carol Moseley Braun became the primary black senator to represent Illinois for one term within the Nineteen Nineties.

“I think about little girls, I think about women who are widowed or over 50,” she added. Blunt Rochester he stated. “For me to find a way to represent and convey these lived experiences, skilled experiences and political issues. I mean, we all know that black women die from childbirth at higher rates than their white counterparts [and] have 43% more student loan debt than our white counterparts.

“I don’t think about history that much because, you know, my intention is to make a difference and have an impact on people’s lives,” he said Blunt Rochester“And if a history-making moment comes along, great.”

How realistic is it to decide on all three? According to Karlos Hill, department chair on the University of Oklahoma African American Studies“Black candidates can compete and win competitive statewide races if they are able to effectively mobilize the black electorate.”

“If the momentum created by Abrams and Warnock’s recipe for mobilizing the black electorate can be maintained, we can begin to see greater black representation in the U.S. Senate,” he added. Hill uninterrupted. “Only time will tell.”