US midterm elections: Three black women to serve together in senate for first time – Who are they?

For the first time in American history, three Black women will serve in the Senate simultaneously, including Juliana Stratton from Illinois, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. They are the three Black women who have reached the US Senate through parallel paths in Democratic state politics after winning the 2026 midterm elections.

Stratton won after defeating Republican challenger Don Tracy to succeed retiring five-term Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, whose 30-year tenure in the chamber comes to an end. With her win, Stratton becomes the sixth Black woman ever elected to the US Senate, and only the second from Illinois, after Carol Moseley Braun made a groundbreaking victory in 1992.

Notably, Illinois will also become the first state in US history to be represented by two women of colour in the Senate at the same time, as Stratton joins fellow Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, who is Asian American. A Chicago native, Stratton began her political career as Illinois’s lieutenant governor in 2019, serving as running mate to Governor JB Pritzker before launching her successful bid for the Senate.

Who is Juliana Stratton?

Juliana Stratton has been Illinois’s lieutenant governor since 2019, elected twice alongside Governor JB Pritzker, and is the first African-American (and fourth woman) to hold that office. Before that, she served one term in the Illinois House (2017–2019). In 2025, she launched a Senate bid for Dick Durbin’s seat, won the crowded March 2026 Democratic primary over Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly and seven others, and is now senator-elect, set to take office in 2027.

Who is Lisa Blunt Rochester?

Lisa Blunt Rochester has represented Delaware in the Senate since 2025, after eight years (2017–2025) as the state’s sole U.S. House member, making her the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in either chamber. Her political career began working for Senator, later Governor, Tom Carper, and she went on to hold state cabinet roles (deputy secretary of Health and Social Services in 1993, Labour secretary in 1998). She co-chaired Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, and when Carper retired from the Senate, she ran with his backing, clinching the Democratic nomination unopposed and winning the general election.

Who is Angela Alsobrooks?

Angela Alsobrooks, born in 1971 and a graduate of Duke University and the University of Maryland School of Law, has been Maryland’s junior senator since 2025. She built her career in Prince George’s County government as a domestic-violence prosecutor, state’s attorney (2011–2018), and county executive (2018–2024), becoming the county’s first female and first Black female executive. In 2024, she defeated former Republican Governor Larry Hogan for Durbin’s, sorry, for Maryland’s open Senate seat, becoming the state’s first African-American senator, the third Black woman ever elected to the Senate, and the second woman overall to represent Maryland there, after Barbara Mikulski.