Who became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, winning a Montana seat in 1916?

Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress when she won a Montana seat in 1916.

A Republican and women’s-rights advocate, Rankin won one of Montana’s two at-large House seats in the November 1916 election. She took office on March 4, 1917, becoming the first woman to hold federal office in the United States.

Rankin was a committed pacifist. She voted against the declaration of war on Germany in 1917 and later became the only member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

She served two nonconsecutive House terms. Rankin returned to Congress in 1941, representing Montana again. She is sometimes confused with Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African American woman elected to Congress, in 1968.