Cory Booker Becomes 4th Black Man *Ever* Elected To U.S. Senate

The 44-year-old Mayor of New Jersey's largest city, Cory Booker, won a special election Wednesday to become the 4th Black man ever elected to the United States Senate. Booker is a Democrat and has well over 1 million followers on twitter. He's also a strong ally of the LGBT community.

Booker will join Republican Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina as the only other African American to currently serve in the United States. When that happens, it will be a rare time in our nation's history when there will be more than one Black member of the Senate at the same time.

In Historic 1st, U.S. Senate Has 2 Black Members

In an historic first, there will be two African-American men serving in the United States Senate simultaneously. William 'Mo' Cowan was selected by a fellow African-American, Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, to serve as an interim replacement for Senator John Kerry who became Secretary of State on Tuesday. Cowan, 43, served as Gov. Patrick's chief of staff until last November, when he stepped down. Cowan will serve until the winner of a June 25th Special Election is certified and he is not expected to be a candidate in that race. Former U.S. Senator Scott Brown (who was defeated by Elizabeth Warren) is expected to run, despite being a Republican in  a very Democratic state. Whoever wins the special election will have to run for re-election to a full 6-year term in 2014.

The other Black man serving as a United States Senator is former U.S. Representative Tim Scott, who was appointed in December 2012 by South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to fill out the remainder of Jim DeMint's term in the Senate.

Cowan will become only the 8th Black person to ever have served as U.S. Senator. Retired Congressman Barney Frank had openly lobbied to be appointed, which would have meant there would have been two openly gay Senators serving simultaneously, but Gov. Patrick chose instead his good friend and longtime close advisor.

Black Republican Appointed To US Senate Seat

Black Republican congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina's 1st Congressional district is being appointed by Governor Nikki Haley to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the retirement of Jim DeMint who is becoming the chairman of the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation.

Scott will become only the 7th African American to serve in the United States Senate, EVER. He is the first Black Republican to be in the Senate since Edward Brooke of Massachusetts in the 1970s. The other Black people to serve in the United States Senate are: Roland Burris (Illinois, 2008-2010), Barack Obama (Illinois, 2005-2008), Carole Mosely Braun (Illinois, 1993-1999), Brooke (1967-1979), Blanch Kelso Bruce (Mississippi, 1875-1881) and Hiram Rhodes Revel (Mississippi, 1870-1871).

Scott is a Tea Party Republican, espousing both financially conservative and socially conservative beliefs. He will serve until 2014 where he will be up for election for the remainder of DeMint's term, and if he wins will be up for re-election in 2016. Scott was first elected to the U.S.House of Representatives in 2010.

In 2014, South Carolina will have two Senators up for election, Scott and(the totally not gay) Lindsey Graham, who is 57 years old and never married.