In a conversation with The 19th in September, Blunt Rochester talked about the meaning of having other women of color to lean on during her campaign.

“Running to the office can be very isolating. You may be around a lot of people, but they don’t have the experience you’re having. There’s so much pressure sometimes, because you want to make no mistakes, because you know there’s so much at stake. So many people are counting on you. And so the ability to have that kind of sisterly support means you understand, ‘I’m not alone in this,'” she said.

Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks competed in very different races for the Senate, with Blunt Rochester seen early on as the favorite to win. Alsobrooks, on the other hand, defeated a wealthy millionaire in the Democratic primary and entered a tightly competitive general election race against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who is popular with voters. By Election Day, Alsobrooks was polling ahead of Hogan by double digits.

Both Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester rooted their campaigns in highlighting lived experiences that are often underrepresented in the Senate. Blunt Rochester made her way through graduate school with a young son. She divorced her first husband in the early 2000s and later remarried Charles Rochester, who died suddenly of a blood clot in 2014.

Alsobrooks, for her part, raised a daughter during each of her campaigns for state attorney, county executive and U.S. Senate. It The 19th previously said how she had to think about things like childcare. During her Senate campaign, she also took care of her elderly parents. She touts her personal experiences and work in law enforcement as qualities that connect her to voters.

“I’m the only person in the race who has any experience in solving these problems. It’s one thing to talk about the problem, you know, theoretically, about how you feel,” Alsobrooks told The 19th in the spring. “It’s a different experience to say that I know what it means to keep communities safe while working at the same time to do no harm to our children and also making sure we have proper justice and second chances in the system.”

Political researchers and advocates who spoke to The 19th said the victories of Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester are a powerful moment for a country where black women candidates they often struggle to secure their seats in elected positions at the state level. Their campaigns further debunk the myth that black women can’t raise funds or appeal to a wide variety of voters in their various states. Alsobrooks raised more than $28 million in her Senate campaign and outraised Hogan by nearly $17 million. according to OpenSecrets.

These successes build on others who came before them, including Cheri Beasley, who was running for Senate in North Carolina in 2022, Val Demings, who ran for Senate in Florida that same year, and Stacey Abrams, who was running for governor in Georgia twice.

Barriers remain, however, notably in a time when women and black women in public office face misinformation, misogyny, racism, and threats to their personal safety.

On the political side, even though Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks are people who will be expected to respond to the specific needs of their constituents, there is an opportunity for them to amplify each other’s perspectives, said Wendy Smooth, a professor of political science at Ohio State University.

“With more than one voice at the table, there’s this opportunity for amplification that doesn’t exist in spaces where you’re the only one,” Smooth said. “Studies have shown that people are more likely to hear the voices of those who are underrepresented in the room if they are not the singular voice.”

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