Warren will be part of record number of women in Senate

BOSTON (WWLP) - Come January, a record number of 20 women will have seats in the U.S. Senate.

As the first woman Senator elected in Massachusetts, Democrat Elizabeth Warren says she is delighted by the progress women have made in the national political arena.

Speaking at the State House Thursday morning, Warren said she feels women will contribute to the diversity of voices in Congress. She pointed out, however, that there are 100 seats in the U.S Senate and women represent less than a quarter of those seats.

“The fact that in this campaign, in this Congress there were debates over equal pay for equal work, over insurance coverage for birth control, tells us that there’s still a lot of room to travel here,” Warren said.

Warren connected with women this election cycle by advocating for issues like access to contraception and equal pay for equal work. She managed to beat incumbent Senator Scott Brown by more than 10 points among women.

Warren will be joined in the Senate by four other new female senators: Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, as well as Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska.