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Joseph Marion Hernandez becomes the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Congress, as a delegate from the territory of Florida.
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Hiram Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, becomes the first African American Senator. He was elected for office by the Mississippi State Legislature.
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Joseph Rainey is elected to serve in the U.S. Congress by voters in South Carolina.
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Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback becomes the first black governor in the United States. He was the lieutenant governor in Louisiana, and he took office after the acting governor was impeached.
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Blanche K. Bruce is elected to the U.S. Senate by the Mississippi State Legislature.
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Californians vote Romualdo Pacheco into the U.S. House of Representatives. He becomes the second Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Congress.
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As a Republican from Montana, Jeannette Rankin becomes the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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In New Mexico, Ezequiel Cabeza de Baca becomes the nation's first Hispanic governor. In 1912, he began serving as New Mexico's first lieutenant governor.
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Rebecca Latimer Felton was elected to fill a vacancy, and served for only 24 hours. She had been involved in Georgia politics for many years.
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Nellie Tayloe Ross, a Democrat, was elected governor of Wyoming in 1924. Her husband served as governor before his death in the fall of 1924.
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Octaviano Larrazolo, a Republican from New Mexico, was elected in 1928 to fill a vacancy. He served six months before he fell ill and had to relinquish his seat.
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Hattie Wyatt Caraway was appointed to serve in the Senate after her husband's death left a vacancy. A Democrat from Arkansas, she was elected by popular vote in 1932, and served until 1945.
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Dennis Chavez, a Democrat from New Mexico, becomes the first Hispanic Senator, after two terms as a Congressman.
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Edward Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, becomes the first African American elected to the Senate by popular vote.
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Shirley Chisholm, a Congresswoman from New York, becomes the first African American woman in Congress.
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Gerry Studds, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was elected to office in 1972. He revealed that he was gay in 1983, and was reelected to serve through 1997.
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Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, from the state of Florida, becomes the first Hispanic woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.
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Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, becomes the first non-incumbent, openly gay person to be elected to serve in the U.S. Congress.
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Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat from Illinois, becomes the first female African American elected to the U.S. Senate.
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President-elect Barack Obama is elected by voters in Illinois to serve in the U.S. Senate.
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President-elect Barack Obama becomes the first African America to hold the highest office in the United States.