The 2018 midterm election brought about significant change in our democracy, specifically due to the record-breaking amount of women elected to the United States’ Congress. Among the many newly elected members of the 116th Congress, 42 of them are women.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics, women now make up 23.4 percent of the members in the House of Representatives and 25 percent of the members in the U.S. Senate. Overall, about a quarter of the 535 members in the 116th Congress are women.

This, of course, is a gradual improvement from the many years of lack of representation of women in political positions.

Although there is still room for improvement, this surge of women in the 2018 midterm elections is inspiring and reassuring to myself and other females across the country.

So who are these women representing us in Congress? Here are a few:

Jahana Hayes (D-CT) – Hayes is Connecticut’s first African-American member elected to Congress. She represents the 5th congressional district, which includes areas in New Britain and other surrounding towns. Hayes does not have an extensive background in politics. Instead, her background is in education. Her accomplishments in education include being 2016’s Teacher of the Year. She has also stated on numerous occasions that education is a priority in her policy agenda. Hence, as a former educator, she helps improve the lack of diversity of teachers in Congress.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) – At the age of 29, Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest member ever elected to Congress. Ocasio-Cortez is also not an ordinary politician. During her campaign, she said that she refuses to accept donations from corporate organizations and lobby groups. Instead, she funded her campaign through small donations from the public. Additionally, she prides herself as a working-class citizen from the Bronx, who previously worked as a bartender. Despite her little political experience, she managed to accomplish one of the biggest upset victories in the 2018 midterm primaries by defeating the 10-year incumbent, Joe Crowley.

Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) – Both these women are Texas’s first Latinas serving in Congress. Prior to being elected, Garcia held a seat in the Texas Senate. Escobar’s background includes serving as a county judge and county commissioner.

Not only are Garcia and Escobar representing women, but also Hispanics, another minority group lacking representation in Congress. According to The Guardian, there are only 32 Hispanics in the 116th Congress, with 11 of those 32 being women. Therefore, as Latinas, Garcia and Escobar are truly reflecting a minority group in the population.

These are a just a few of the many stories of our new 116th Congress. Despite the differences between my views and some of their policy ideas, the importance of these women holding political office is crystal clear. In order to represent the 160 million females in the U.S., we need a proportionate amount of female representatives. Although we are not completely there yet, these women are paving the way for other women, like myself, who aspire to hold public office in the future.