Las Vegas, December 19: In a historic moment, Nevada became the first state in the US with an overall female majority in the Legislature after two Democrats Rochelle Thuy Nguyen and Beatrice "Bea" Angela Duran were appointed in the state Assembly. Now, women represent 51 per cent of the 63 seats in the Legislature in Nevada state.

While women will hold only nine of 21 seats in the state Senate, they represent 24 of 42 seats in the Assembly after the appointment of Rochelle Thuy Nguyen and Beatrice "Bea" Angela Duran. With this, women now hold 45 of 63 seats in the Legislature, which is enough to make the two chambers an overall female majority. US Midterm Elections 2018 Results: Dead Nevada Brothel Owner Dennis Hof Wins Poll.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, which tracks women's political representation, no state has previously had a female-majority or even a 50 per cent-female Legislature. Women picked up seats in the Nevada Assembly and Senate during the 2018 November election but fell short of an overall majority.

With the 2018 election, women cracked the 50 per cent threshold in the Nevada state Assembly and Colorado State House, but no overall majority was reached until the Nevada appointments. With the two Nevada appointments, women will make up 28.6 per cent of state legislators nationwide when new legislators are sworn into office in 2019, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics.

"It is unprecedented at this point to see a majority female legislature overall," said Kelly Dittmar, an assistant professor of political science at Rutgers-Camden. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 19, 2018 11:47 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).