Women make history on night of firsts at US mid-terms
A record number of women have been elected to the US House of Representatives in the mid-terms.
Voters are on track to send at least 99 women to the House, surpassing the previous record of 84.
They include two 29-year-old representatives, the youngest women ever elected to the House, while the lower chamber will also have two Muslim women among its members for the first time.
The night of firsts also saw:
Massachusetts and Connecticut elected their first black congresswomen
A Somali American elected to Congress
Two Native American women elected to Congress
The first openly LGBT member of Congress from Kansas
The first openly gay governor elected
Arizona and Tennessee elect their first female senators
New Mexico and Texas elect their first Latinx Congresswomen
The first black person from Colorado elected to Congress
New Hampshire elected its first openly gay man to Congress
Nearly two years after women took to the streets across America in protest over the inauguration of President Donald Trump amid claims of sexual misconduct, the mid-term elections were defined by the energy of women, both on the political left and right.
Women ran for office at an unprecedented rate, with several defeating white, male incumbents during their party primaries.
There was also a historic gender gap that showed women more supportive of Democrats than Republicans.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the former Bernie Sanders organiser who won a shock primary victory over a senior house Democrat, will head to Congress as the youngest woman ever elected to the House after her victory in New York.
She is still paying off her student loans and until recently had no health insurance.
She said: "If we continue to believe that we are a threatened, scarce and limited nation, then that is exactly what we will become.
"We can do better and we can be better because a better world is possible."
Abby Finkenauer became the second-youngest woman elected to Congress. Also 29, she beat two-term Republican incumbent Rod Blum in a fiercely contested race in Iowa.
Democrats Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan will be the first Muslim women to serve in Congress after being elected to the House.
Ms Omar is also the first Somali American to be elected to Congress. The 36-year-old came to the US as a refugee.
Ayanna Pressley, who became the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, said: “I am so honoured to share both the ballot and the stage with the many visionary, bold women who have raised their hand to run for public office.
“Now, listen, I know for a fact none of us ran to make history – 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, including my personal one.”
Texas is set to send its first Hispanic women to congress, as Democrats Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia both won their races.
Democrats Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland will become the first Native American women elected to Congress.
Davids, who ran in a suburban Kansas City district, identifies as lesbian and will be the first openly LGBT person to represent Kansas at the federal level.
In Tennessee, Republican Marsha Blackburn won the Senate race to became the first female senator to represent the state.
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the Democrats who is considering a shot at the 2020 presidential race, said the two years since Mr Trump ascended to the White House had ushered a new generation of women into public life.
“Women who had never run for anything stepped up to put their names on the ballot,” she said.
“They ignored the party bosses who said they should wait their turn. They ignored the consultants who said they should cover up their tattoos and smile more, and they ignored the powerful men of the Republican Party who never took them seriously anyway.
“They refused to let anyone shut them up or stand in their way, and that is how real change begins.”
In a first for men, Democratic candidate Jared Polis will become Colorado's next governor, making him America's first openly gay man elected governor.