Arkansas
3. Sarah Huckabee Sanders
As the daughter of Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders became a national figure when she served as the press secretary for the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019, being only the third woman to hold the position of White House press secretary.
She announced her candidacy for governor of Arkansas with Trump’s endorsement and would go on to defeat both the Democratic nominee Chris Jones, and the Libertarian nominee, Ricky Dale Harrington, making her not just the first woman elected governor of Arkansas, but also the first daughter in US history to serve as governor of the same state her father served as governor.
4. Leslie Rutledge
Huckabee Sanders wasn’t the only woman to break records in the midterms. Republican Leslie Rutledge, who served as counsel for Governor Mike Huckabee serving two terms as the state attorney general, had originally intended to run for the office of governer of Arkansas. However, when Huckabee Sanders entered the race she decided to run for lieutenant governor instead.
With Rutledge’s victory over the Democratic nominee Democrat Kelly Krout, she became, along with Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the first women elected independently to serve as Governor and Lt. Governor in United States history.
