Their achievements are remarkable. Hinojosa defeated a three-term sitting governor, Greg Abbott. She’s the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years. She’s the first Hispanic person to lead the state. She follows in the footsteps of Ann Richards, Texas’s last Democratic governor. And the strength of her candidacy helped power James Talarico to victory too, as Democrats put up a strong front across the state’s ballot.

Lance Bottoms is the first Black woman to serve as the governor of a U.S. state, ever. Thousands of governors in the history of America and its 50 states, and until now none has been a Black woman. “I am standing on shoulders made of steel,” Lance Bottoms said last night, reflecting on her family’s history in Georgia, where her great-great grandmother was born before emancipation. Stacey Abrams, her voter mobilization, and her runs for Georgia governor—she was the first Black woman to be a major-party nominee for governor anywhere—helped pave the way for Lance Bottoms’ victory too.

In New Mexico, Deb Haaland just became the first Native American woman to serve as governor. And if you look across the American southwest, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas will now all be governed by Democratic women.

Of course, women lost some races on the other side of the blue tsunami. Longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins was ousted in Maine by Troy Jackson from a seat she held for 30 years. Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham and hand-selected by Trump to run for his South Carolina Senate seat, was bested by Democrat Annie Andrews. Andrews is the first woman South Carolina has elected to the Senate and the first Democrat since 1998.

Incumbent GOP Sen. Ashley Moody earned one of the Republican Party’s victories last night, beating progressive candidate Angie Nixon in Florida’s special election for her Senate seat.

Overall, at least 139 women will serve in Congress next term, or 26%, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. But 41 contests are still too close to call. At least 17 women will be governors.

Amy Acton’s governor’s race in Ohio summed up what voters were looking for from their candidates this election. They rejected a harsh, mean politics—like the attack ad run by Vivek Ramaswamy that exploited Acton’s childhood trauma.

“No one will ever be unseen by me,” Acton promised Ohio voters. That’s what voters wanted across the country yesterday—for politicians to see them, their problems, and their priorities. And that’s what women candidates delivered.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

Tough times for Canva. The company founded by Melanie Perkins—and the world's most valuable female-founded private startup—just laid off about 22% of its workforce (some of that number was reassigned or asked to relocate). This was a first for Canva and Perkins wrote a long note explaining and grappling with "the hardest moment in our 13-year history." Canva is one of several software companies to struggle with the advent of AI, as people need fewer specialized programs and instead create assets without them. "I've come to the difficult conclusion that small changes won’t be enough," Perkins wrote in her note. 

New Fortune 100 CEO alert. Emma Walmsley, who led the British drugmaker GSK, will take over HP, ranked No. 84 on the Fortune 500. Walmsley was the first woman to run a major pharma business and left her post at GSK at the end of 2025. She'll start at HP in January. 

3.3 million people watched the Valkyries win the WNBA finals. That makes Game 7 the second most-watched WNBA game ever. 

OpenAI's comms poach. The AI giant just hired longtime Uber exec Jill Hazelbaker as its new chief corporate affairs officer, a post that has been vacant for 10 months. My colleague Emily Forlini reports that Uber first offered Hazelbaker the job in the spring, but she turned it down at the time. 

ON MY RADAR

The ex-KPMG consultant who could be New Zealand's kingmaker FT

Why do Black-owned brands keep getting dragged online? The Cut

Can two women take the toxic masculinity out of New York politics? Marie Claire

PARTING WORDS

"I've been waiting for this day for as long as I can remember."

— Yolanda Renee King, the only grandchild of Martin Luther King Jr., who just cast her first vote at age 18