BOSTON (WHDH) - One local candidate made history Tuesday night. Ayanna Pressley won the 7th District, becoming the first black woman to represent the Commonwealth in Congress.
Pressley ran unopposed in her race after a big win in the primary, and now she’s talking about what this achievement means to her.
One of a record number of women voters are sending to Congress, Pressley sat down with 7News one day after celebrating a monumental victory.
“In order for someone to be elected, someone has to run, and in order for there to be a second, there has to be a first,” Pressley said.
During the primary, Pressley, a Boston city councilor, upset 10-term incumbent Democratic Congressman Michael Capuano. She says the women newly elected to Congress have worked hard to get there.
“I won’t give short shrift to the historical significance of this being one of the most inclusive and representative incoming Congressional classes in history,” she said. “Many of us are women, but I don’t think it’s a wave. If there is one, I don’t think it’s one we’re riding. It’s one we created.”
The Congresswoman-elect has promised bold, activist leadership in the face of a Trump White House.
“The country is polarized,” Pressley said. “And all the flames of that polarization have been fanned by the occupant in the White House.”
Pressley won’t say yet if she’ll support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and now that Democrats have flipped the House, she says they first need to figure out what the party stands for.
“Have that discussion,” she said. “Have a discussion about the vision for this party.”
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