Midterm Results, Under Armour, Chrystia Freeland: Broadsheet November 7

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• A night of firsts. First things first: the many long-overdue, barrier-breaking, stomp-your-feet firsts from a historic election night for women.

For the first time, more than 100 women are projected to win seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, shattering the previous record of 84. And that new Congressional class is chock-full of firsts itself:

Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat, is the first black woman to serve in Massachusetts’s Congressional delegation.

Congress got its first female Muslim representatives in Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, both Democrats.

Republican Marsha Blackburn is the first women elected to the Senate from Tennessee.

And Democrats Sharice Davids in Kansas and Deb Haaland in New Mexico became the first Native American women elected to Congress.

Lots to celebrate, but as the New York Times’ Jodi Kantor put it on Twitter: "Getting closer (but not that close) to representative democracy.”

That kind of cold water was on the election night menu; Senate results served up another healthy dose of it.

Democrats Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakotas lost their closely watched Senate re-election bids, with Heitkamp’s defeat coming, notably, in the wake of her vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a move that was considered political suicide and that Heitkamp made anyways.

Another heartbreak for Democrats appears to be emerging in Georgia. Stacey Abrams, vying to become the nation’s first black female governor, is trailing Republican Brian Kemp, the state’s current secretary of state, in a race tainted by accusations against Kemp of voter suppression. Abrams promised supporters late Tuesday night that she would make sure “every vote is counted.”

Nine gubernatorial races are projected to go for women with Democrats Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, Laura Kelly in Kansas, and Janet Mills in Maine securing the office for the first time. Republican Kristi Noem won South Dakota’s governor’s race. In an election cycle marked by the flood of women candidates for Congress, the gubernatorial victories stand out since women face even starker underrepresentation at that level. There are only six current female governors; 22 states had never elected a woman to the office before yesterday; Noem and Mills broke that ceiling in their states last night.

There's still plenty to digest from a record-smashing night for American women, including the way in which some women won, by casting aside the outdated model of promoting resumes and downplaying personal lives. As The Broadsheet continues to comb through the results, a line from Mikie Sherrill's victory speech stayed with me. Claiming victory in New Jersey's flipped 11th Congressional district, the Democrat, a former helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, urged supporters to "work for a better future long after tonight" and recalled that when she asked her daughter if it was okay that she seek office, her daughter replied: "If you don’t run, who will?"

Here's to the women who ran, and the women who won.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• Midterm check-in. The Cut  checked back in with five Republican women the site had interviewed in 2016 about why they were voting for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to get an update before the midterms. Four of the women were happy with the past two years of the Trump presidency, and one split her ticket between Republicans and Democrats this year.  The Cut

• Expensing what?? Under Armour's "#MeToo moment," as the Wall Street Journal  called it, came earlier this year when the company told employees they could no longer expense trips to strip clubs, apparently a longstanding practice. Under Armour also "invited women to an annual company event based on their attractiveness to appeal to male guests."   Wall Street Journal

• Trump trademark. Ivanka Trump said she shut down her eponymous brand in July, but Trump won approval last month for 16 new trademarks in China. Included in the bunch, which the company first applied for in 2016, a trademark for "voting machines." CNBC

MORE FROM MPW INTERNATIONAL

• Kill 'em with kindness. After her boss Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke Monday night, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, who led Canada's negotiations with the U.S. On NAFTA, addressed the MPW crowd alongside Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. Both foreign policy leaders had excellent negotiating advice—which we at The Broadsheet plan to adopt, ASAP: "Smile,” Mogherini said. “This is confusing to men in negotiations. If you show that you’re soft and accommodating, they’re completely disoriented.” Coins2Day

• Election tracker. Ida Tin, CEO of the period tracking app Clue, shared a timely piece of data analysis with the Summit crowd. After the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, users of Clue, which allows women to track period symptoms including their moods, told the app they were "sad." Coins2Day

• How to win over your dragon. Manjit Minhas isn't a shark—she's a dragon. Dragon's Den  is Canada's version of Shark Tank, and Minhas is tough to win over.  Coins2Day

• Not so tariff-ic. Linda Hasenfratz is CEO of Linamar, an $8 billion Canadian manufacturing company that's been hit hard by President Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum. The tariffs are "taking a toll" and could lead to a recession, Hasenfratz said. Coins2Day

Today's Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe. Share it with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.

ON MY RADAR

Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace will finally premiere after decades-long dispute  Time

The first year every state sent a woman to Congress, in one map  Vox

Brown point shoes arrive, 200 years after white ones  New York Times

Don't propose during a marathon  Jezebel

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