Irish Public broadcaster, RTE, reports that as the dust from the US elections begins to settle, so too will several senators who become the first for minority groups in the states. RTE reports that Bill Shiebler - chief strategy officer at the non-profit State Voices, a network of advocates for civic engagement and equity - said that the night was "a huge rebuke against hate and division."

"We're witnessing an electorate that increasingly sees itself in its leaders, and the leaders who come out of communities they now represent," he said.

"I think that's part of a multiracial democracy working as it's intended, not just a novelty."

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the race for governor of Georgia, making her the first Black woman elected to the top office in any US state.

Democratic Representative Chris Pappas, meanwhile, will become the first openly gay man to serve in the US Senate after winning in New Hampshire.

In New Mexico, Democrat Deb Haaland became the first Native American woman elected governor, beating Republican Gregg Hull. She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.

 And in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed claimed victory to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.

The Victory Fund, a non-partisan group that works to help get LGBTQIA+ representatives elected in the States, said that dozens of LGBT+ community members had been returned to office in recent elections. Many of these were on "lower tiers" of US governance, on local assemblies and boards. For example, V Fixmer-Oraiz (They/Them) was elected in 2022 to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and is the first transgender, Queer, Bi-racial county supervisor in Iowa.