They did what?
Ok, so the dames missed a trick while we were sorting out website issues. But now we have cleaned out the database, expelled the bots, increased our reach and can get on with celebrating great ‘wimmin’. And a special shout to Simon without whom the bots would still have the upper hand, not forgetting Hilda the spreadsheet queen who made it all much simpler.
And while writing, if you have a friend who might like our content on damesnet, feel free to introduce us to her.
’But what trick did you miss?’ I hear our anxious readership cry. Well, it’s like this: October was Black History Month and somehow I don’t feel we did much to celebrate it.
So to remedy this and also to make a real virtue out of a necessity, I have the US midterms to thank, because on November 3rd some wonderful women of colour got the job they deserved. A quick canter round the various states reveals almost an embarrass de richesses.
First prize goes to Keisha Lance Bottoms – the first Black woman governor in US history! She is also the first woman and first Black person elected governor of Georgia. She is the former mayor of Atlanta and her father, Major Lance, was a blues singer. Keisha worked as an attorney and served as a magistrate judge – definitely not a nepo baby. Just saying. Her Republican opponent poured more than $100m of his personal fortune into the campaign. That went well didn’t it? Once again showing that even in 2026 there are some things that even US dollars can’t buy.
And tied in second place we applaud Juliana Stratton, who together with Tammy Duckworth, makes Illinois the first state with two women of colour serving together in the Senate. Stratton is the fourth woman and first African-American to serve as lieutenant governor of Illinois. Both she and Keisha Bottoms campaigned on platforms that included the support of women’s reproductive rights. As for Duckworth, I have no words to express my admiration for a US Army National Guard veteran who served as a helicopter pilot in the Gulf War and whose Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2004, which led to her losing both legs and some mobility in her right arm. Duckworth served in the army for another 10 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, and to the Senate in 2016.
But let’s not forget Stacey Plaskett. She is the first woman to be elected governor of the United States Virgin Islands, and the first black woman elected governor of a US territory and a US jurisdiction. This ends more than five decades of exclusively male leadership in the territory’s elected governorship. Plaskett gained national attention in 2021 when she served as one of the House impeachment managers during the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Some of us might be wondering if this experience might prove useful in the times to come.
Damesnet congratulates these incredible high achieving women and wishes them the very best when they assume their new roles on January 3 2027.