They are fierce, furious and fired up. They are the newly elected women of color headed to Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill. The electoral hope of constituents expecting they will remember who sent them. Most are firsts — first-time candidates, and historic firsts like Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley, the first black woman elected to the Massachusetts Congressional delegation. Many Bay Staters know her name, but not the name of her fellow Connecticut Congresswoman-elect Jahana Jones, once named National Teacher of the Year. Pressley and Jones are the first African-American women elected to Congress from New England. We’re not yet familiar with everybody in the new group, but I predict that will quickly change. Their road to victory was too hard for them to be backbenchers. And they’ve already made it clear they don’t intend to be quiet.
Congresswoman-elect Pressley electrified her victory audience, noting the “concrete ceiling” for candidates who are women of color, saying, “But you know what breaks through concrete? Seismic shifts.” And indeed, the 43 women of color voted into office across the country moved the political tectonic plates. These mostly Democrats are a virtual diversity rainbow — Native American, Latina, Asian-American, Muslim, black and LGBTQ. Data indicates their success at the polls was no accident. They worked hard at retail politics — the door knocking, personal phone calling, showing up at small community events, listening and taking notes. Most importantly, they spoke the language of their communities, and the people responded. Newly elected Suffolk District Attorney Rachel Rollins told me in a discussion on WGBH Television’s Basic Black, “We didn’t hide the ball from people like a lot of political people do and speak in vagaries.”
Whether blue wave or blue ripple, many of these soon-to-be-lawmakers come into their new jobs savoring a victory along with a bitter aftertaste about the lack of support from the Democratic party. As State Representative-elect Liz Miranda pointed out, “We all won without major support for our primaries.” Not only that, in some cases the party supported their opponents. State Representative-elect Nika Elugardo is blunt in her assessment, “The Democratic party is straight-up racist. If you think it is time to change the face of leadership — get out of the way. The structural racism that we’re talking about dismantling is in the party.”
For its part, the Massachusetts Democratic party chair responded that the party, “always welcomes constructive feedback about what it could do better.” I have no doubt he’ll get it, though not at the expense of their doing the real work of the people. They are mission-focused, and their commitment is broad and deep. They have their own mandate, of course, but I can’t help seeing them as the living legacies of another woman of color. New York’s Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman to be elected to Congress and the first black woman to run for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. Her mantra: ”Unbought and unbossed.” Get ready, America.
Correction: An earlier version of this piece misidentified State Representative-Elect Nika Elugardo's first name. The post has been updated.
