Women in the United States Senate Women in the United States Senate There have been 52 total women in the United States Senate since its establishment in 1789. The first woman who served as a U.S. Senator, Rebecca Latimer Felton, represented Georgia for a single day in 1922. The first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway from Arkansas in 1932. Fifteen of the women who have served were appointed; seven of those were appointed to succeed their deceased husbands. As of April 9, 2018 when Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi was sworn in, the 115th United States Congress has 23 female Senators out of 100
Women in the United States Senate elected Republican Kelly Ayotte, making the first female tandem senators that do not belong to the same party. Mazie Hirono, who joined the Senate in 2013, was the first Asian American woman and first Buddhist person in the Senate. Tammy Baldwin, who joined the Senate in 2013, was the first and only openly gay person to serve in the United States Senate. Joni Ernst became the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate when she joined in 2015. In 2016, Kamala Harris was the first woman to defeat another woman from the same party, U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez,