Continuing improvement in diversity of elected officials is worth celebrating

Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 | 2 a.m.

The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris prompted joyful celebrations in Las Vegas and other cities across the nation, but the outcome was equally worth cheering in another respect. The 2020 election was a ringing endorsement of the strength of America’s diversity, as voters backed candidates from across a wide spectrum of our society.

Although some races have yet to be determined, it’s looking like the next session of Congress will feature an unprecedented number of women, African Americans, Native Americans and members of the LGBT community.

Among them are a record 24 Black women scheduled to take office in the House, as well as a record six Native Americans and the first Iranian American and Korean American women elected to Congress — Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., and Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., respectively.

New LGBT members of the House include New York Democratic Reps.-elect Mondair Jones and Ritchie Torres, the first gay Black and Afro-Latinos to serve in that chamber, respectively. The total number of LGBT senators and representatives is expected to expand to 11 from nine.

The number of Black leaders in the Senate and House will likely top the record high of 55 set in 2019.

There’s also expanded diversity in age, with 25-year-old Rep.-elect Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., becoming the third-youngest person ever elected to Congress and the first lawmaker born in the 1990s.

Other highlights included New Mexico becoming the first state to elect all women of color to its U.S. House seats.

And of course, there was Harris, the first woman and first Black, to be elected as vice president.

These results were refreshing. It was wonderful to see such strong leaders stepping up from every segment of society, and to see voters recognizing their talents and abilities. The election will strengthen our democracy, which is well served when its leaders represent a cross-section of the population.

One triumph of special note: Native Americans in several states faced intense voter suppression efforts yet defied them to arrive at the polls in high numbers to flex their political muscle. Nevadans saw it next door in Arizona, where Native Americans — mainly Navajo and Hopi — turned out in numbers high enough to account for Biden’s winning margin.

Nevadans have been at the forefront of recognizing the value of diversity in leadership in recent years, and this year was no different. Our six-member congressional delegation, which includes four women and two men, will remain intact with the reelection of our entire House delegation. In the 2021 session, Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee, Steven Horsford and Mark Amodei will continue working with Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.

And after Nevada became the first state in the nation with women majorities in the state Supreme Court and both chambers of the Legislature in 2018, those majorities held this year.

But despite the gains made by candidates who have been traditionally underrepresented in public leadership, especially at the federal level, there’s still a long way to go.

In Congress, white men still have a wildly disproportionate presence. Even though there will be at least 134 women in the Senate and House next year, that still represents only about a quarter of the membership of the two chambers combined.

But the nation is getting there, and this year’s results bode well for the future. Hopefully, more candidates from traditionally underrepresented demographic groups will be emboldened to step forward, and the expanded diversity will keep improving on itself.

In electing a more broad-ranging group of candidates, voters also repudiated the Republican Party’s blitzkrieg on gender equality, civil rights, LBGT equality, fair and human treatment of immigrants and refugees, etc. Democrats made up the vast majority of the people of color, women and LBGT candidates who were elected this year.

Now, thanks to American voters, those groups will now be a bigger part of the decision-making process. And that’s something worth celebrating.