NEWPORT — Election Day ushered in an unprecedented political alignment in the City by the Sea, one that stretches all the way to the State House and takes some effort to describe. But 5-year-old Keeley Rose Sheekey captured it in just two words.

“Girl power!” she exclaimed recently to three Newport women who emerged with the kind of political power and influence typically bestowed on men.

Before her were Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, Sheekey’s grandmother, who was on the verge of becoming Newport’s first woman mayor, a ceremonial title given to the council chair; Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed, who had just made history as the first woman to secure the presidency of the state Senate; and Jo Eva Gaines, who was reclaiming the chairmanship of the School Committee that she held in 2003, the first black woman to do so.

The three met only days after the election at Napolitano’s 19th-century Victorian, where for many years Newport women in government circles were welcome to stop by, uninvited and unannounced, to enjoy a cup of tea and chat. Last Thursday, Napolitano, Paiva Weed and Gaines sat down again.

“I feel like everybody on the street is connecting the dots. I don’t think any one of us ever felt it in terms of gender, but every woman on the street, I can go out to Middletown, Portsmouth and it’s the same reaction,” Napolitano said, and then borrowed her granddaughter’s words, “Girl power!”

Or, said Gaines, she hears, “Thank goodness!”

Paiva Weed said there was some joking among the trio’s husbands. “First Men,” they called themselves, said Paiva Weed. Gaines’ husband, Paul, who was Newport’s first black mayor, preferred “First Dudes.”

But kidding aside, each feels a burden to perform their jobs well.

“I want to be successful and make it easier for the next woman president,” said Paiva Weed, 48, a lawyer. “It’s a lot of responsibility. I don’t want them saying, ‘Look, she messed it up. Women can’t do that.’ ”

Napolitano agreed, saying that women who assume such positions “have to do it twice as well.”

“There are still doubts in some people’s minds that women can’t be leaders,” Gaines added.

Like, “Is she tough enough?” said Paiva Weed.

And if you are tough, you better not appear too tough.

“The adjective comes out,” said Gaines, the “b one” that she won’t repeat.

“I’ve heard it about me,” said Napolitano.

Better not get emotional either, said Gaines, “or you’re being a drama queen.”

And, unlike men, be prepared for criticism about your appearance.

“Criticism of your clothing, of how your hair looks,” said Paiva Weed. “We saw that with Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. You don’t hear anybody saying John McCain has been wearing the same pinstripe suit.”

Ask the Newport women what they think about Palin and Clinton — women who played huge roles in national politics this year —and there’s a flash of conflicting opinions.

“I think Sarah Palin was an insult. She offered nothing that would advance the position of women in politics,” said Gaines.

“I have a different opinion,” said Napolitano, 58, retired from her family’s insurance business. “You can’t be a governor of a state and not have some value. … I think women are too hard on women. Women need to do what men do and stick together once in a while.”

On Hillary, there’s less dissent and plenty of support.

“I have a great respect and admiration for her,” said Paiva Weed. “I hope she is able to play an important role in the Obama presidency. … The citizens of our country are ready for diversity. The success of Barack Obama is success for women.”

Gaines said her family was solidly behind Obama’s bid to become the nation’s first African-American president, but that she stuck with Hillary.

“I’ve been hooked on her for years,” she said, but, after Clinton dropped out, “I followed her right to Obama.”

The three women said that growing up, they were less influenced by any female figures in politics than they were by their parents, all of whom were deeply involved in their communities, but not public office. Napolitano’s father, an electrician at the White House, had his family licking envelopes for John F. Kennedy. Paiva Weed’s mom broke another kind of barrier, becoming the first woman president of Pop Warner.

“Women in my family always told me I could do whatever I wanted,” said Gaines.

Gaines, 72, is a retired school guidance counselor and former member of the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. She ran for School Committee in 2001 “because I went to a meeting and couldn’t stand what I saw.” She has been on the committee ever since and earlier this month was the top vote-getter. At times, Gaines could find herself opposite Napolitano in tense situations that school boards and councils commonly face over financial matters.

“There are always going to be those tensions. I’m not going to say we’re going to fight, but we might,” she said, but added quickly, “We don’t give up on each other.”

Napolitano agreed, saying, “I really think women are more loyal.”

Napolitano finished between 600 to 1,300 votes ahead of the three other citywide incumbents and then moved quickly to win her peers’ support to serve as their chair. Along with that comes the title of mayor, with its office on the top floor of City Hall, the responsibility to run meetings, the obligation to attend public functions and the opportunity to potentially steer the council’s political direction.

A woman wasn’t elected to the council until the 1960s and since then only about 10 have done so.

Paiva Weed, who in 2004 became the first female Senate majority leader, also moved quickly to secure her colleagues’ votes for the presidency when incumbent Joseph A. Montalbano, D-North Providence, lost reelection.

They said they hope to serve as role models for the next generation of women leaders.

Napolitano said a young woman recently came up to her, congratulated her on becoming mayor and asked if Napolitano recalled a visit by her elementary class to City Hall. The students were taking on the roles of city leaders and when the girl expressed interest in being mayor, a boy shot her down.

“You can’t be mayor,” he told her. “You’re a girl.”

Napolitano remembered the incident.

“I said, ‘All the more reason,’ ” Napolitano recalled.

The girl got to be mayor that day. And now Napolitano gets to be mayor, too.

rsalit@projo.com