New Jersey's Senators Will Make History Today

quicklist: curated
quote: “The New Jersey Senate delegation is a glimpse at the very near future of American politics.”
their: USA TODAY’S
their_title: Booker, Menendez give new meaning to Senate diversity
their_url: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/31/cory-booker-senate-diversity-menendez/3321147/
their_copy: New Jersey will become the first state to be represented by a black and a Latino senator at the same time. It’s a sign of progress, as the United States moves toward a point three decades from now when whites are no longer in the majority.
theirCTA: Read the full story here.
our_copy: As a whole, Congress still lags behind the rest of the country when it comes to gender and racial diversity. But this Congress did set records for the number of women and racial minorities representatives when new members were sworn in in January.

Now, New Jersey is setting a new record. When he is sworn in today, Corey Booker (D) will become the state’s first black senator. He will join Sen. Robert Menendez (D), a Cuban-American (full disclosure: Fusion anchor Alicia Menendez is a daughter of the senator).

The state’s racial diversity made it possible.

About one-third of the state’s population is Hispanic or black, according to Census figures. That includes close to three in ten New Jersey voters in the last election, per exit polls.

“The one thing I have to say that I love about Jersey is, there are people in my circle … that said, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a big issue, a black guy running around the state,’ and it wasn’t,” Booker recently told NJTV.

Jordan Fabian is Fusion’s politics editor, writing about campaigns, Congress, immigration, and more. When he’s not working, you can find him at the ice rink or at home with his wife, Melissa.