News AP News Native American women's election wins follow years-long push

Native American women's election wins follow years-long push

As a girl, Debra Haaland remembers joining her grandmother as she chopped wood and fetched water for her home in tiny Mesita, a Native American community situated amid mesas in the high desert west of Albuquerque

Native American women's election wins follow years-long push Image Source : APNative American women's election wins follow years-long push

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two Native American women's historic congressional victories add them to a record number of women elected to the U.S. House, following an election cycle that also saw a significant boost in Native American female candidates at the state and local level.

The incoming Native American congresswomen Deb Haaland (HAAH-lund), of New Mexico, and Sharice (sha-REES) Davids, of Kansas, are Democrats.

Haaland, a former New Mexico Democratic Party chairwoman, is a Laguna Pueblo member. She won her race in a New Mexico district that includes Albuquerque, and credited a vast political network she built after nearly 20 years of working on other candidates' campaign, and her own hard work.

Sharice Davids, who is Ho-Chunk, and attorney and a former White House Fellow, beat U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder to win her election for a district that includes suburbs of Kansas City.

Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.