U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. makes her victory speech after winning the race for Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seat. Andy Manis/AP
One in five U.S. Senators will be women next term
The number of women in the Senate will rise to 19.
Obama may have won the female vote in last night's election, but there will also now be a record number of women serving in the Senate next January when one in five members of the upper chamber will be female. In Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin took Herb Kohl's seat and became the first openly gay senator. Elizabeth Warren was victorious over incumbent Scott Brown, and became the first woman to serve in the Senate for Massachusetts. In Hawaii, Mazie Hirono will replace Daniel Akaka. Meanwhile, in Nebraska Republican Deb Fisher will succeed Democrat Ben Nelson. Democrat Heidi Heitkamp has the chance to win in North Dakota, but per the Jamestown Sun, her Republican opponent is not conceding. As Laura Litvan wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek a historic number of women, 17, currently occupy Senate seats. Even though Republicans Olympia Snowe and Kay Bailey Hutchison are retiring, the number of women who will serve next term will rise to at least 19.
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