VOTE: SheWired's Out Woman of the Year 2012

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Tammy Baldwin:

The Wisconsin Democrat carries on her state’s progressive political tradition by being elected as the first openly LGBT U.S. senator. She moves up from the House of Representatives, where she has served since 1999, being the first LGBT person elected to Congress while being out from the get-go (her predecessors had come out while in office). She’s also the first woman her state sent to the U.S. House, and now the first to the Senate. “Having a seat at the table matters, and I think we will see a Senate that is more reflective of America,” she told CNN after the votes were counted. “We’re certainly not there yet, but this will be a change that moves us forward.”

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