Vanity Fair | Martin Schoeller, via Instagram

The History Made In This One Pic Set Twitter On Fire

Updated August 16, 2021

Listen, it's too easy to get too political in today's world. You can cross the line with folks just by what you put on your hot dogs these days. Or if, perish the thought, you prefer a salad to hot dogs. It's ridiculous out there.

Nevertheless, the reality is that we live in a political world, and we all have to try our best to exist together. I think that it really helps when a multitude of voices are heard from, and from the looks of things, the multitude will indeed have a stronger voice than ever in the years to come.

The evidence is on display in this pic shared on social media by new Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

The pic, taken for Vanity Fair by Martin Schoeller, represents the massive change in store for the 116th Congress. On the left is Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Next to her is Ayanna Pressley, the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

Third from the left is Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who along with Rashida Tlaib of Michigan is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Then there are Deb Haaland and, on the far right, Sharice Davids, the first Native American women elected to Congress. Fifth from the left is Veronica Escobar, the first Latina Congresswoman from Texas.

And they're just the tip of the iceberg. The 116th Congress made history at the most diverse ever.

The 127 women serving in Congress sets a record, about 24% of all the seats, and they break down to 106 Democrats and 21 Republicans. Tennessee also elected its first female Senator in Republican Marsha Blackburn, Connecticut sent its first black woman to Congress in Jahana Hayes, Iowa elected two women to Congress for the first time, Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne.

Mississippi's Cindy Hyde-Smith is its first female Senator, and Arizona sent two women to the Senate for the first time, Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema, who is also the first openly bisexual person elected to the Senate.

But that pic shared out by Ocasio-Cortez drew the most attention, absolutely lighting up Twitter.

Folks couldn't get enough of the diversity on display and the feeling that their voices would finally be represented and heard in the halls of power.

Say what you want, but this is exactly what injects more energy into politics and gets a wider spectrum of the population involved.

Inspiration and representation matter because they prepare the next generation to take up the mantle for their country.

The comments on Ocasio-Cortez's tweet of the pic were overwhelmingly positive.

Sure, there were a few downers in there, but that's Twitter for you. By and large, people just wanted to cheer her and the new Congress on.

Ocasio-Cortez's tweet of the pic landed her more than 200,000 likes and almost 40,000 retweets so far.

And her Instagram post of the same pic did even better, with more than 460,000 likes so far. So obviously it struck a chord with a wide variety of people. And what more can you ask for in politics than that?

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