TORONTO -- Three Indigenous women will serve in the House of Representatives, the most ever elected to Congress, with New Mexico also becoming the first state to send two Indigenous women to Washington, D.C.
The three women are also among a record six Indigenous congressional delegates elected to the 435-seat House of Representatives. A total of 13 Indigenous candidates from eight states were running for 11 seats in the House, according to Indian Country Today, a digital news site covering Indigenous people.
Yvette Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, unseated Xochitl Torres Small, a Democratic incumbent in New Mexico, while Democrat Deb Haaland, Laguna and Jemez Pueblo, kept her seat in that state, after winning her race in 2018.
Sharice Davids, another Democratic incumbent and a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, was re-elected by voters in Kansas. She and Haaland became the first Indigenous women voted into Congress when they won two years ago.
Indigenous people account for about 2 per cent of the population in the United States, and equal representation in Congress would be 11 members, Indian Country Today said.
