The AP reports that Catherine Cortez Masto is the projected winner in Nevada. She will join Harris as one of only four women of color serving in the Senate.
This story was originally published on November 8, 2016, at 12:55 p.m.
Kamala Harris just made history.
The AP announced that Harris is the projected winner of California's open U.S. Senate seat, having defeated fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez in a landslide. Come January, she will be the only Black woman — and first Indian-American woman — in the Senate.
She follows in the footsteps of Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman to be elected to the Senate. The Illinois Democrat served one term in the 1990s.
Harris, who replaces retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, will be one of only three three women of color serving in the Senate (she will join Mazie Hirono, who represents Hawaii, and Tammy Duckworth, the senator-elect from Illinois). That number might expand to four if Catherine Cortez Masto, who is running in Nevada, is elected. The 115th Congress will mark the first time there are multiple women of color in the Senate.
Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican-American father and an Indian mother, has long been seen as a rising star in Democratic politics. She's been heralded as a "female Obama" and floated as a possible pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. And she's not the only member of her family likely to make waves in Washington in the coming years — her sister, Maya Harris, was a top aide to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Harris also has a long history in California politics. She served as the District Attorney of San Francisco before being elected attorney general of California in 2010. She is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first Asian-American to hold that office in California.
Because of California’s “top-two” primary, Harris was running against fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez on the general election ballot. Her bid had secured a number of big endorsements, including ones from Barack Obama and Boxer.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
State-By-State: How Trump Won The Election
Donald Trump Wins Presidential Election
Republicans Will Keep Control Of The House Of Representatives