(Newser)
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Female candidates fared well across the country yesterday, but perhaps nowhere better than in New Hampshire. As the Union Leader points out, all the state's top political jobs will soon belong to women for the first time: Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan, senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte, and congresswomen Carol Shea-Porter and Ann Kuster. Elsewhere, as noted by AP and the Washington Post:
- Heidi Heitkamp's upset win in North Dakota means that the Senate will have a record 20 women in January.
- Rep. Mazie Hirono became the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, and Hawaii's first female senator.
- Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin became the first openly gay senator.
- Elizabeth Warren became the first woman elected to a Senate seat in Massachusetts, while Claire McCaskill fended off Todd Akin in Missouri.
- And let's not forget Roseanne.
"The result is a big win for all women, not just the female candidates," writes Amanda Marcotte at
Slate. Issues important to female voters in general such as health care and education are likely to get a bigger push. Of course, all these female leaders now have a whole new problem, notes Erin Gloria Ryan at
Jezebel: "How will they win the coveted 'man vote?'"
