The 2016 Olympics in Rio were both a triumph for American athletes and a tribute to the lasting impact of Title IX. Women made up a majority the 554 American athletes at this year’s Olympics, and brought home fully half of the 121 medals won by U.S. competitors.

I got a card in the mail last week that I can't stop thinking about. I'd lost a close friend, and Patti Russo wanted me to know that she was thinking about me and hoped I was doing OK. I also got a text from Anne Moses telling me she was there if I needed to talk.Why is this unusual? Because Patti, Anne and I run national political organizations training women to run (Women's Campaign School at Yale, Ignite and Running Start). We are direct competitors, fighting for the same funding, the same publicity and a share of the same demographic.

Hillary Clinton has become the first female presidential candidate of a major political party in American history, showing American women and girls that they, too, can one day run for political office and succeed. But she's not the only female politician whose election would be historic. In a Congress that boasts only 19 percent women, over a dozen women from both sides of the aisle could end up breaking barriers if elected in November. Based in part on input from FairVote.org's nonpartisan Representation2020 project, here are 19 women from across the country who would be historic firsts if elected into the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Thursday night Hillary Rodham Clinton made U.S. history by becoming the first woman to be nominated for president of a major political party. Many are wondering if Clinton's achievement will have a lasting impact on boosting the number of women holding elected office in America.

With the convening of the Democratic and Republican Parties, we see greater diversity in their national delegations and leadership than what we currently have in Congress. Women hold less than 20 percent of the seats in the Senate and House, making the United States 95th internationally in the number of women elected to national offices.

Less than 15 percent of the state's legislators are women. There are currently no women representing Louisiana in statewide elected office. And Louisiana ranks 39th out of 50 states for gender parity when you look at women serving at federal, state and local levels, according to an index by Representation 2020.

Vermont is a national leader of women’s representation in its state legislature, and women account for 41 percent of the 180 state legislators. Women account for only 20 percent of the over 1,000 local selectboard members. According to Representation 2020’s “The State of Women’s Representation 2015-2016,” Vermont earned a state ranking of 41 out of 50, and a gender parity score of 11.5 out of 100 points.

The website Representation2020.com placed Wyoming at 21st place. The Equality state is not 100% equal. Nothing is ever perfect – especially in politics. We sure do have a good start with the first woman governor and the first state to give women the right to vote, but there is always room for improvement.

Congress is sexist. So says Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, a former journalist and health-care executive who in 2012 became the first woman from her district to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As she faces reelection in November, one of her top missions is to flood Congress with women and people of color so the lawmakers drafting bills "truly reflect the makeup of America."

According to Representation2020, a program by FairVote, the United States ranks 95th in the world for the percentage of women in its national legislature — behind countries such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, which American political discourse conveniently labels “backwards” while praising the U.S. and other Western countries as “progressive.” The numbers further highlight this hypocrisy.