US midterms bring a wave of historic firsts as minorities win key races

Despite what many see as openly racist rhetoric coming from the White House, Republican officials and representatives, as well as the vilifying of diversity and inclusion efforts, Tuesday's midterms also brought a long list of trailblazing firsts, notably for women. So for more on this, France 24's Elisa Gadeva is with me on set. Hi, Elisa. So I guess we'll start by taking a quick look at the map for a quick overview then. That's right. Before going to all the women first, I really want to remind our viewers the basics. What did Americans vote for? Starting with the Senate here, there were 35 out of 100 Senate seats up for grabs, with 51 needed for majority. When it comes to the House of Representatives, all 435 seats are contested, with 218 needed for majority. And there were also, of course, the governor elections, but I want to zoom in some Senate battles here. Now, Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate, but after what everyone's been calling the blue wave, the blue tsunami, the blue tsunami, they have currently managed to flip a total of... Seven states, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, and they also have the chance of flipping Mississippi and Alaska as well. And I want to zoom into a very interesting case here. We have Kansas, where Democrats haven't managed to capture a seat since 1932. And we have Adam Hilton with 50.9% versus. This is Republican Roger Marshall with... 46.1 percent. Now, his campaign was quite successful. Democrat Adam Hilton focused on economic concerns, and they have been, of course, a major concern not only for people in Kansas, but for Americans overall. Here he is, Adam Hilton. He presented himself as a moderate, someone who can unite both Republicans and Democrats, and he is a pastor, and his strategy It seems to have worked pretty well. And then let's just take a look at Mississippi here, because let's see if... The map is going to collaborate. Well, the map is a bit tired, but Mississippi, the contest there, the Senate contest is very, very competitive. I think around 97% of the votes have been counted and Republicans and Democrats are neck to neck there. So we will be following this as well as Alaska, Erin. And Aliza, there have also been many firsts, especially in gubernatorial races. And I want to start by taking a look at Georgia and this is Georgia's new governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. She got 54.3% and Rick Jackson there got 45.7%. Now she's making history as the first black woman to be elected governor. In the United States, then moving to Ohio, where Democrat Amy Acton defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. 52.3% versus 44.4%. Now, this battle was very interesting, and what led up to that win is interesting because Ramaswamy aired an ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, and that really annoyed and angered many people, not only from the Democrats, but also from the Republican Party, because the ad was targeting Acton's difficult childhood. Well, now she's the winner because she. She's Ohio's first ever women governor. And then in Texas, there's a double victory there. Both in the Senate and the governor seat were flipped. Democrat Gina Hinojosa is now the first Latina to be elected governor of Texas. And a Democrat overall hasn't been elected governor there. Since 1990 and finally in New Mexico, Democrat Deb Haaland became the first Native American female governor in American history. So a big win for all the girls around the world. Big win for women indeed, Alitza Gadeva. Thank you very much for that roundup.