Women in the United States Senate advancement such as sex discrimination, which still plays a factor in their limited numbers today. The first woman in the U.S. Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served representing Georgia for only one day in 1922. Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win election to the Senate (Arkansas), in 1932. Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate; she first served in the House, and began serving in the Senate in 1949. Margaret Chase Smith won her 1960 race for Senate in the nation's first ever race pitting two women (her and
Women in the United States Senate Murray, who led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which recruited Baldwin, Heitkamp, Hirono, and Warren, along with several other candidates who did not win. Hirono was the first Asian-American woman and first Buddhist person in the Senate, and Baldwin was the first openly gay person in the Senate. With 14 years of experience in the House of Representatives, Baldwin held the highest seniority of her entering class of senators in 2012. Joni Ernst became the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate when she joined in 2015. In 2016, a record 15 women were their party's nominee for