Katie Hill made history in one of Tuesday night’s most-watched races, winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives for California’s 25th Congressional District. She defeated Republican incumbent Steve Knight, 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent.
Hill’s win carries a lot of firsts. The 2.6 percent margin-of-victory makes her the first queer woman elected to Congress from California. She’ll also be one of two LGBTQ women in the House of Representatives along with Sharice Davids, who was elected in Kansas’ 3rd District. Davids, an attorney and MMA fighter, is the first queer Native American woman to serve in the federal legislature.
At 31 years old, Hill joins newly elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who is 29) as one of the youngest women ever elected to Congress. In addition, she’s one of very few national leaders who is openly bisexual, along with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.
Sinema is currently battling an extremely close race to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate. Her Republican opponent, Martha McSally, leads by an extremely slim 15,000 votes at the time of publication. Although 99 percent of districts are reporting, the race has yet to be called. There are still one million ballots left to count.
But while Sinema opposes “Medicare for All” and ran on a centrist platform, Hill brings a long progressive record with her to Congress — not just for LGBTQ Americans, but on intersectional issues as well. Read more via INTO