Hope may be hard to come by this post-election season, but if you’re looking for bright spots, look no further than the remarkable “firsts” sworn into the 119th Congress, as well as statehouses across the country, this week.

In addition to the monumental election of two Black women—Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE)—to the US Senate, US Representative Sarah McBride (D-DE) made history in November as the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.

McBride was already the highest-ranking transgender elected official in her previous role in the Delaware legislature, where she served two terms and leaves behind an impressive legacy of legislative achievements. In her very first term as state senator, McBride passed paid family and medical leave in Delaware, securing 12 weeks of paid leave for working families. IWPR’s research underscores that paid leave is a crucial economic policy that promotes equity, stability, and workforce participation, especially for women.

Instead of celebrating this historic feat, her future colleagues in Congress—namely Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC)—immediately targeted McBride by filing a discriminatory bill that prohibits transgender House employees from using the restroom facilities that align with their gender identity.

Anti-trans attacks like the Mace bill are cropping up in state legislatures all over the country and have risen to the US Supreme Court in the case United States v. Skrmetti. These transphobic attempts to restrict the full participation of trans people in society and to strip trans individuals of their dignity, well-being, and safety make McBride’s seat in Congress all the more important. McBride’s lived experience, her perspective, and her fierce championing of equal rights protections are greatly needed in the halls of Congress and will finally give voice to the long-underrepresented trans community at the highest level of government. In early December, in a strong show of opposition to the anti-trans Mace bill, activists participated in a sit-in inside the women’s bathroom nearest to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) office.

The presidential election was also plagued with anti-trans messaging, and Americans were deluged with attack ads against the trans community and Vice President Harris’ stances on transgender care. Still, LGBTQ+ candidates up and down the ballot overcame the hostile national messaging to secure seats never before held by a member of the community.

In Texas, Representative Julie Johnson (D-TX) became the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to Congress in the Lone Star State, and in the South more broadly. Washington elected Emily Randall (D-WA) to serve in the House, making her the first LGBTQ+ person to represent the state in Congress.

Amid a severe maternal health crisis and a health care landscape in which most rural hospitals have closed their maternity wards, Representative Kelly Morrison (D-MN) brings a much-needed perspective as the first pro-choice obstetrician-gynecologist elected to Congress. Previously, the OB-GYNs who have served in Congress were anti-abortion Republican men.

North Dakota voters elected Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) as the first woman to represent them in the House of Representatives. Mississippi is now the only remaining state to have never elected a woman to the House.

At the state level, New Mexico Senator Cindy Nava made history by becoming the first DACA recipient to win a state legislative seat. Nava’s previous role was also a historic achievement, as she was the first former DACA recipient to receive a political appointment when she was tapped to serve in the Biden administration. At least 37 states elected LGBTQ+ members to lead in legislatures, including Hawaiʻi, Iowa, and Missouri, which all elected out trans members—Kim Coco Iwamoto, Aime Wichtendahl, and Wick Thomas, respectively—for the first time.

Beyond the candidates, state ballot measures also made major headway on issues that are unlikely to see progress at the federal level and would surely have been under attack otherwise. Voters in seven states codified reproductive freedom in their state constitutions, and Alaska, Nebraska, and Missouri all passed new paid sick leave laws.

If Trump’s first term is any indication, it’s hard to imagine that pressing policy issues like paid leave, reproductive freedom, affordable child care, and pay equity will see much progress, let alone survive serious attacks. And the thought of enduring another four years without these critical supports is daunting, especially for women and families. Still, progress was made at the ballot box in narrowing the gender gap in representation in state and federal legislative chambers. Many of these firsts are just the beginning for leaders who will champion issues that are important to advancing economic equity for all women and, perhaps more importantly during the next administration, defend and protect the most fundamental of rights and protections.