Mia Love, a 38-year-old former small town mayor, electrified conservatives in Utah with her promise to take on “the Godzilla that we call the federal government” and won in the state's fourth congressional district.

She will join Tim Scott, a black senator from South Carolina, as one of just three African-American Republicans in Congress. The Democrats count 43 members in their current Congressional ranks.

Mrs Love's path to Utah - and now to Washington - is an unlikely one. Mrs Love was born in New York to Catholic parents who had immigrated from Haiti just two years earlier. The family worked hard, saved money and eventually moved to more prosperous settings in Connecticut.

06.35 Members of three American political dynasties - the Bushes, the Kennedys, and the Carters - were on the ballot on Tuesday night. Some did better than others.

Ted Kennedy Jr, the nephew of JFK, won his race for the Connecticut state senate while George P Bush, the grandson of George HW Bush, claimed an easy victory in Texas.

Jason Carter, however, failed in his bid to become Governor of Georgia, a position that his grandfather Jimmy Carter held before winning the White House in 1976.

Chaii, see black woman laughter