America woke up Wednesday, looked into a giant mirror made up of millions of votes and saw how it has been changing for decades.

It wasn't just President Obama's re-election and the diverse coalition of minorities, women and youth that kept him in power.

For the first time, voters approved same-sex marriage in three states. Margaret Hoover, a Republican analyst and CNN contributor, called it "a watershed moment." Meanwhile, Wisconsin elected the country's first openly gay U.S. senator.

Two states legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

A record 20 women will be serving in the U.S. Senate.

And a record number of new Asian-American and Latino representatives were elected to Congress.

All this would have been unthinkable a generation ago, as would the idea the country would elect, let alone re-elect, its first black president.

Tuesday's election showed that the United States is redefining what it means to be an American, some political and social observers say: The country is less conservative than popular belief suggests. It's no longer the same America. The nation has arrived at a "new normal."

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There was an era in U.S. political life "that began with Ronald Reagan, where there was a conservative dominance powered by conservative voters and Southern whites," said David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "That era is over."

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