The midterm elections for the US Congress, Tuesday night, were marked by several precedents in the history of the United States. Michigan elected Abdul Sayed, a doctor of Egyptian origin, as the first Muslim in the Senate, Georgia chose a female governor of African descent, and New Hampshire chose a gay senator. As for the African-American Hakeem Jeffries, he is on the verge of becoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In Florida, Byron Donalds became the state's first black governor. France 24 presents to you these new faces that will change the face of the American political scene in the next stage.
Published on: 04/11/2026 - 11:33 Last updated: 04/11/2026 - 11:39
Wednesday, November 4, in the wake of the midterm elections, will be a day when the highest American political positions, which have remained out of the reach of the people, will receive a number of new faces. From the states of Georgia to Florida, and from Michigan to New Hampshire, we take you on a tour of the victories achieved by the Democrats, which may constitute a turning point in political representation in the United States.
The first Muslim representative in the history of the Senate
On Wednesday morning, Democrat of Egyptian origin Abdul (Abdul Rahman) Al-Sayed announced his victory for the US Senate seat in Michigan, defeating Republican Mike Rogers, which will make him the first Muslim to be elected to the upper chamber of Congress.
“We did it! I am very proud and honored to stand here as Senator-elect of the great state of Michigan,” Al-Sayed said in a speech at his campaign headquarters in Detroit.
Al-Sayed won despite the sudden setback in his election campaign, after Democratic Representative Haley Stevens announced her support for the Republican candidate.
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In their campaign, the Republicans portrayed the Democrats as communists, and described Al-Sayed as a "terrorist who will endanger Americans."
Al-Sayed (42 years old) pledged to help low-income voters obtain health care. “You have the right to consult a doctor without spending huge sums of money,” he told the people of Michigan on the eve of the vote, pledging to bring about a transformation in the American health system based on profit.
Black Speaker of the House of Representatives
The current Democratic House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is expected to assume the presidency, after his party won the majority in the House of Representatives. Thus, he may become the first African American to preside over the Council.
Jeffries pledged on Tuesday to use his majority to hold accountable political officials guilty of, in his opinion, “unprecedented corruption.” He said to his supporters: “We will hold them accountable.”
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first black female head of state in the United States
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has been elected governor of Georgia, becoming the first black woman to hold that position in the United States. Lance Bottoms also became the first minority person to lead the state of Georgia, whose previous eighty-three governors were all white men.
The former Atlanta mayor beat out Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire who made his fortune in insurance. On her campaign website, Keisha Lance Bottoms presents herself as the descendant of a family of slaves on a plantation in Georgia, a state in the heart of the Deep South marked by slavery, segregation, and then the struggle for civil rights.
Deb Haaland, the first Native American governor
Democrat Deb Haaland has been elected governor of New Mexico. Thus, she becomes the first indigenous woman to lead an American state. The Democrat defeated her Republican challenger, Greg Hall, 60, a businessman and former mayor of Rio Rancho.
Deb Haaland, 65, had already made history when she became the first Native American person to be appointed secretary responsible for federal lands under former President Joe Biden. Her victory in New Mexico, where 12% of the population is indigenous, comes at a time when the presence of Native American voters on ballots across the country is increasing.
A member of the Laguna Pueblo community, Deb Haaland has emerged as a rising figure in national politics since 2018, the year of her election to the House of Representatives, on the heels of a wave of progressive young women elected including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Byron Donalds, the first black governor of Florida
Republican Rep. Byron Donalds has become the first black governor elected in Florida, following a race seen as surprisingly close in the final straight against Democratic nominee David Jolly.
Byron Donalds will succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has used his term to fuel his presidential ambitions and to anchor President Donald Trump's tenure further to the right.
According to a file published by French radio RFI, dissatisfaction caused by the war in Iran and inflation, which is weighing on household budgets, prompted Byron Donalds to remove a picture and several references to Donald Trump from his campaign website. If he has "returned to the right path" since then, the new Florida governor embodies a state of hesitation among part of the Republican camp towards the occupant of the White House, whose recent decisions may not always be well understood by an important part of his voters.
Chris Pappas, the first representative to declare his homosexuality in the Senate
Democratic candidate Chris Pappas won the elections in New Hampshire, becoming the first openly gay man to enter this chamber.
Pappas defeated John Sununu, a 62-year-old Republican who held the seat from 2003 to 2009. Pappas will allow his camp to keep New Hampshire through his succession to Democratic Senator Jeanne Shakin.
Chris Pappas, 46, comes from a Greek-American family known in the state for its chain of restaurants, and has been a member of the House of Representatives since January 2019. He has been particularly prominent through his support for the Equality Act, the major Democratic bill that aims to include protections in federal law against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Kansas sends a Democrat to the Senate, the first since 1932
Democrat Adam Hamilton has been elected senator in the conservative state of Kansas, an achievement in this region of the central United States that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. The pastor who recently entered politics beat outgoing Republican Senator Roger Marshall, according to CNN and NBC.
Adam Hamilton, until recently registered as a Republican, campaigned for the Democrats, presenting himself as a centrist candidate, wanting to recreate a link between the two parties.
Hamilton traveled to this rural state in the Great Plains, at the head of a huge church, to meet those frustrated with Donald Trump. He was seeking to rally them, along with independents, around dissatisfaction with the ever-rising cost of living and with the war in Iran, which has exploded fuel prices, putting the state's ranchers and farmers in a difficult position.
France 24 with AFP
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