On this week’s special episode, the Audio Editor and deputy editor of the Chronicle break down some of the historic victories emerging from the 2026 midterm elections.
Transcript:
0:05: My name is Levi Libson, and I’m the audio editor of the Columbia Chronicle.
0:08: Oh, and I’m Marc Balbarin, the deputy editor of the Columbia Chronicle.
0:12: And welcome back to the special edition of Chronversations.
0:15: Today we’re going to be going over some historic wins from Tuesday’s midterm race with some great coverage here at the Chronicle.
0:21: I was even covering it live down at WCRX, and so yeah, Marc, let’s get right into it.
0:27: Yeah, first off, Allison Montgomery from Alabama, she became
0:31: the first openly transgender state legislator. Montgomery, who’s a Democrat, defeated Republican incumbent Phillip Rigsby in House District 25 in the Huntsville area.
0:42: Yeah, and in New Mexico we have Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman elected governor of a US state.
0:47: Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and previously served as President Joe Biden’s secretary of the interior and represented New Mexico in Congress.
0:58: Yeah, also we have Juliana Stratton of Illinois. I was actually at Juliana Stratton’s watch party. Yes, you were. Yes, I was, but yeah, no, she was the first Black woman elected to the US Senate (from Illinois) since Carol Moseley Braun, who won in 1992.
1:13: Stratton defeated Republican Don Tracy for the seat, which was vacated by Dick Durbin.
1:19: Her arrival alongside Senator Tammy Duckworth will make Illinois the first state represented by two women of color in the US Senate.
1:26: She’ll also be the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate, and three will be serving at the same time, which is a historic first.
1:34: Yeah, I gotta ask you, dude, how was that watch party?
1:36: That watch party was amazing.
1:37: As soon as we saw it was one minute after ballots closed, Juliana Stratton was announced as the projected winner.
1:44: The whole 200-300 people at that watch party just erupted in cheers.
1:50: It was great to see.
1:51: Yeah.
1:52: I mean, I remember calling you and you’re like screaming over the phone.
1:55: You’re like, yeah, it’s amazing here, it’s crazy.
1:57: There was a lot going on, and then we have, I think it’s Keisha, Keisha, yeah, Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia, the first Black woman elected governor in US history.
2:07: And the former Atlanta mayor will also become the first Democrat elected governor of Georgia since 1998.
2:14: I think that’s, you know, just interesting.
2:16: There are a lot of like flips that happened in this midterm race, but especially the House, the House and the Senate are blue now, Democrats have control of Congress.
2:28: Yeah, interesting enough, Texas flipped blue.
2:31: That was crazy.
2:32: I was watching that and I was like this is insane.
2:35: Texas is typically not a fully red state, but a state they could rely on.
2:40: Republicans can rely on Texas as a red state, but them flipping blue, that was wow.
2:46: Yeah, it was a wild night, lots of historic moments.
2:50: We also have Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.
2:54: The former public health official won Michigan’s open Senate seat after Senator Gary Peters had retired.
3:00: Yeah, in addition to that, we also have Chris Pappas, from New Hampshire.
3:06: He’s the first openly gay man elected to the US Senate, and he won the open Senate seat.
3:12: We also have Gina Hinojosa of Texas, who was their first Latina governor.
3:18: She defeated the incumbent Republican Greg Abbott, which ended Republican control of the governor’s office dating to 1994.
3:26: From Ohio we have Amy Acton, the first woman elected governor of Ohio.
3:33: Acton, a physician and former state health director, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
3:39: Yeah, and then we have David Crowley from Wisconsin, who was their first Black governor.
3:44: He was previously the Milwaukee County executive and he won the race to succeed Governor Tony Evers.
3:49: Yeah, from Colorado we have Melat Kiros, the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress, and Colorado’s first Black woman to represent the state.
3:59: Woo, Gen Z. Woo, Gen Z, and this is one that’s special for me because I’m from Minnesota, of course it’s like I know, I know, I’m prideful in my Minnesota upbringing.
4:09: We have Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota who was the first
4:11: Native American woman elected to the US Senate.
4:14: She is a member of the (White) Earth Band of the Ojibwe, another significant indigenous representation milestone that we, you know, encountered during these midterms.
4:22: Yeah, from Florida we have Byron Donalds, the first Black Republican elected governor in US history and the first Black person elected to statewide office in Florida.
4:32: Yeah.
4:33: And lastly on the list of stuff that we covered, we have Xavier Becerra of California, the first Latino elected governor of California since 1875.
4:42: His victory alongside Hinojosa’s in Texas means that two of the nation’s most populous states will now have Latino governors.
4:52: Yeah, this midterm, 2026 midterm was so influential and so historic.
4:57: There’s so many of these firsts and so many, and so much new representation in Congress that frankly
5:03: we need. It really feels like people’s voices are kind of getting heard this time around.
5:07: I know that, you know, over the last few years it’s been a concern. Actually, I mean decades, centuries, people have always had issues and we’ve always. We’ve always, yeah. Yeah, since the US has become a nation we’ve always fought for our own rights.
5:19: We’ve fought for having a voice.
5:21: I mean, what was our voice or what was our main saying during like the Revolutionary War?
5:25: It’s like no taxation without representation is tyranny, and we keep fighting for our representation.
5:32: We do, we do.
5:33: And we get the privilege of experiencing it in the newsroom, which is just, you know. Well, you did.
5:39: I was a bit too busy at a watch party.
5:42: This guy complains too much.
5:43: I’m not complaining.
5:44: No, I was having fun.
5:45: Yeah, I actually, I was a little envious of you.
5:47: I wish I could have been there.
5:48: I wish I could have been in the newsroom hanging out with all my Chronicle friends, but at the same time, being at such a frankly historic watch party, watching, listening to Stratton speak.
6:01: It was amazing.
6:02: I mean, it seemed like you had a pretty great time, but that’s gonna wrap it up for us today.
6:06: Again, my name is Levi Libson, the audio editor of the Columbia Chronicle, and I’m Marc Balbarin, the deputy editor of the Columbia Chronicle, and we will see you all later.
6:15: Peace, peace, peace.
