Ayanna Pressley has become Massachusetts' first black woman elected to the US House of Representatives. At her victory speech, Pressley told her cheering supporters that women of colour have had to create ‘seismic shifts’ in order to break through barriers that have kept them from office. 'Can a congresswoman wear her hair in braids? Rock a black leather jacket?' she asked the crowd. The Democratic candidate sailed through Tuesday's general election unopposed, two months after unseating 10-term Republican Michael Capuano in a political upset in the state primary