The number of women of colour in the Senate just quadrupled — the largest leap in any election

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Voters elected four women of colour to the Senate on Tuesday night, quadrupling the number of seats from one to four.

As Vox’s Jenée Desmond-Harris writes, four is a very small number compared to the 100 seats in the Senate but still the largest leap in any US election.

Previously, Mazie Hirono, a Japanese-American representing Hawaii, was the only woman of colour in the Senate. Back in 2006, she became the first Asian-American and female senator in her state.

In present day Illinois, Tammy Duckworth, another Asian representative, defeated her Republican rival Senator Mark Kirk, who recently made racist comments to her.

Mr Kirk suggested that her parents couldn’t have served in the military or that their work was illegitimate given her heritage, “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”

In California, Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is both black and Indian-American, defeated Loretta Sanchez to win her seat. And in Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto, who is Latina, defeated her opponent Joe Heck on Wednesday night.