ICYMI: Black Republicans Made History Last Night

Matt Vespa | November 05, 2014 4:15 PM

As Guy wrote earlier this morning, the Republicans had a great night last night. They took governorships in Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maryland, retook the Senate for the first time since 2006, and are projected to have the largest House majority in 86 years.

But politics aside, history was made in South Carolina. Last night, Tim Scott emerged victorious in the special election to decide who will finish the last two years of Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate term. In doing so, he became the first black U.S. Senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Before the election, Scott was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley to fill the vacancy left by Sen. Jim DeMint, who resigned in 2012 to become the President of the Heritage Foundation.

In Utah, Mia Love became the first black Republican woman elected to Congress.

These are historic wins were noted by MSNBC’s The Grio earlier today [emphasis mine]:

Love won a seat at the House, making her the first black Republican woman in Congress but also the first ever Haitian-American ever in Congress.

Scott was already in the Senate when he ran this year, but he hadn’t been elected. Governor Nikki Haley appointed him after Senator Jim DeMint resigned in November 2012, so this year’s race against Democratic challenger Joyce Dickerson was about finishing out the rest of DeMint’s six-year term. Scott will have to run for re-election in 2016 to earn a full six-year term himself. But he has already made history nonetheless — his win marks the first time an African-American has been elected in the South to the Senate since Reconstruction. The win also makes him the first ever African-American to serve in both the House and Senate.

These two historic wins are surely steps forward in the legacy of our national elections. That’s definitely something to celebrate no matter your party affiliations.

Townhall reached out twice to the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP) today if they would give–or had– a statement about this historic event. They said one was in the works; we’re still waiting. But, their statement will be posted when it reaches us. So far, their website has nothing on the 2014 elections–and neither does their Twitter account.