On Jan. 3, 2025, two Black women, Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), were sworn in as members of the United States Senate. For the first time in U.S. history, Americans elected two Black women to serve in the Senate simultaneously. Alsobrooks and Rochester join incumbent Black senators Corey Booker (D-N.J.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
Alsobrooks and Rochester are not the first Black women to join the Senate; their election brings the total number of elected Black women to serve in the Senate to four. In 1992, Carol Mosley-Braun (D-Ill.) was the first Black woman elected to the Senate. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), in 2016, was the second Black woman to win a Senate seat. And Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
But if we look at the composition of the Senate over time, only 12 Black legislators have been elected or appointed to serve since 1967 – when Ed Brook (D-Mass.) became the first Black person elected to the Senate in the modern era. U.S. Senate records name a total of 14 Black senators, including two Republican senators from Mississippi, Hiram R. Revels (who served from 1870 to 1871) and Blanche K. Bruce (from 1875 to 1881).
Few Black women have won statewide races
The sparse representation of Black legislators, especially Black women, in the U.S. Senate has been a perennial issue. Research has documented the fact that Black candidates tend to fare worse when seeking high-profile statewide offices, like a U.S. Senate seat or the governor’s office. The reasons for this are myriad, yet chief among these is a reluctance on the part of White voters to elect Black candidates. Although there is ample evidence to suggest that Black elected officials, particularly Black women, expand the boundaries of who they consider to be constituents, it is uncommon to see Black representatives elected with majority White constituencies. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), for example, is a notable exception. And while there are other Black women who represent majority White districts in the House of Representatives, the data show a substantial drop-off in representation at the highest levels, such as gubernatorial and senatorial positions.
Black candidates who are able to win these kinds of positions remain few and far between. Americans have elected just three Black governors – L. Douglas Wilder (D-Va.), Deval Patrick (D-MA), and Westley Moore (D-Md.). And David Paterson was an appointee when he served as New York’s governor. A Black woman has never been elected governor. Stacey Abrams of Georgia is as close as any Black woman has gotten to a governor’s seat. Black candidates for lieutenant governor, however, have been more successful at the ballot box.
Nonetheless, high-profile Black elected officials have to walk a very fine line. While they are in powerful positions, in most cases they are largely defanged because they cannot say or do anything that risks alienating their party or White voters that helped elect them. There is no state with enough Black voters or dollars to be the sole supporters of candidates in these types of races. As a consequence, Black women elected officials find themselves “doubly bound” by their race and gender, having to toggle between these identities and the expectations these identities carry.
And reelection remains a big challenge
What is more, reelection is not always in the offing. Sens. Brook, Scott, and Booker won reelection to their seats, but we have never seen a Black woman senator win a second term. Braun, like Harris, served just one term. Braun lost her reelection bid and Harris became the first Black woman to serve as vice president.
Of course, it’s difficult to draw firm conclusions from this relatively small number of cases. But if we consider how long it took America to elect two Black women to serve in the same Senate term, it is not hard to believe keeping these two seats will be a task. For example, a recent UMBC poll shows Maryland Gov. Wes Moore enjoys a 54% approval rating. It’s difficult to know how his reelection bid might fare in 2026, as this same poll shows most Marylanders (66%) rate the current economy as poor. If the 2024 presidential election is any indication, voter worries about the economy could drag down Moore’s reelection bid for governor – and, by extension, Alsobrooks’ reelection chances. Incumbency for Black high-profile elected officials does not seem to guarantee reelection, contrary to the situation for their non-Black peers or their colleagues in the House and in local offices.
Alsobrooks and Rochester hope to champion critical issues
The presence of Alsobrooks and Rochester in the current Senate is supremely important, because the issues they are attentive to are issues fellow lawmakers often overlook. That said, Democrats are in the minority in the current 119th Congress – and party leaders are struggling to counter the disruptions and policy priorities of the new Trump administration. Trump’s policies, for instance, do not prioritize Black maternal health care, workers’ rights, affordable housing, voting rights and other issues that Alsobrooks and Rochester feel strongly about. Alsobrooks and Rochester are also at a disadvantage as freshman senators with no seniority within their party caucus.
In sum, the election of these women represents an important first, but both new senators will likely face real barriers to their ability to move the needle on policies of the greatest concern to their voters. Newly elected Sens. Alsobrooks and Rochester offer a measure of reassurance to voters that an expanded electorate leads to more inclusive legislative institutions. The fact that it took until November 2024 to get here shows us how much farther we have to go to achieve a more racially and gender-inclusive Congress.
Niambi M. Carter is a 2024-2025 Good Authority fellow.
