The midterm elections were sobering but there were some bright spots. For starters, in 2015 100 women will serve in Congress for the first time in history. Depending on a few races too close to call, that number could rise, although percentage-wise women will still represent just 20 percent of the combined House and Senate. Still, a milestone is a milestone. 

Women suffered several disappointing losses including Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte who ran for governor and lieutenant governor in Texas respectively, Alison Lundergan Grimes and Michelle Nunn who ran for Senate seats in Kentucky and Georgia respectively, North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan who lost her reelection bid, and Attorney General Martha Coakley who ran for Governor of Massachusetts but lost to Charlie Baker.

On the good news front, Coakley will be replaced by Maura Healey, a rising political star and the first openly gay state attorney general in the United States. Other highlights from Tuesday’s election include New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen beating former Senator Scott Brown after a challenging campaign, and  Gina Raimondo, becoming the first woman governor in Rhode Island.

Two Republican women can claim firsts as well: Mia Love of Utah, the first black female Republican elected to the House, and Iowa’s Joni Herst, the first woman in that state elected to the Senate or the House. Unfortunately Love and Herst’s viewpoints are not exactly women-friendly.

Perhaps Massachusetts’ Coakley summed it up best in her concession speech.

“I want to say this to all the young women who have worked on this campaign, thought about running for office, who have tried and maybe not won: it’s important that you do. For every woman who didn’t get the job she wanted or didn’t get the promotion or ran a race and lost, I say go right back at it,” said Coakley.