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National News

Bridesmaids All Become State Senators in Midterms

Here’s a story maybe you haven’t heard regarding the heated midterm elections. Five longtime friends who were bridesmaids in each other’s weddings each won their own Senate races this year. 

The five Democratic women candidates included: Tammy Story, Faith Winter, Jessie Danielson, Brittany Pettersen and Kerry Donovan. They all swept their state Senate races by double digits in Colorado, according to People Magazine on Wednesday. 

The women call themselves “The Fab Five,” and they helped flip the state Senate to a Democratic majority for the first time in five years.

“We were all in it together,” Danielson, who currently serves as member of the Colorado House of Representatives, told the magazine.

Winter was victorious against a Republican incumbent for her race earlier this month. She told the magazine she previously worked with Danielson at Emerge Colorado, a group that trains women to run for office.

“Essentially she was my boss,” Winter told People of Danielson. “She and I have been friends and colleagues for a long time as well.”

Winter was also a bridesmaid for Petersen, who also currently serves as a state representative.

Story won by 15 percentage points and told the magazine that she met the other four women through advocacy work.

“We hoped we were all going to win, but I don’t think anyone predicted the margin that we would win by,” Story said.

Each of the women said they helped the others face negative advertisements and criticism during their campaigns.

“Through the campaign, the five of us were very supportive of each other,” Winter said. “We had several text chains where we would check in with one another and see how we were doing.”

“If a particularly bad ad or piece of mail came out, we would reassure each other on the text chain, ‘Have you seen the mail? It’s so awful, how are you doing?’” she continued.

There are more than 2,000 women who are getting ready to take office in state legislatures nationwide next year, a number that shatters the previous record for women who have held legislative seats.

— itadmin