Four Nigerian-Americans win US midterm elections

Four Nigerian-Americans have won elective positions in the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, while the outcome of another candidate, Segun Adeyina, remained pending in Georgia as votes were being counted.

Jawando. Photo: Wusa9

The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, who secured positions in local government and state legislatures across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania.

In Maryland, Jawando, the Democratic candidate, won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells.

Results published by NBC Washington on Wednesday showed Jawando polling 237,383 votes, representing 78.15 per cent, against Wells’s 66,383 votes, or 21.85 per cent, with 72 per cent of the expected votes counted.

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Jawando, who previously served on the Montgomery County Council, is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother. His Nigerian heritage and political career have featured in reports by The Baltimore Banner and The Washington Post.

In Texas, 27-year-old Ezeonu secured a seat in the state House of Representatives for District 101. He had defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary and was the only candidate on the ballot for the November general election after no Republican entered the race.

According to his campaign biography, Ezeonu was born in Onitsha, Anambra State, and moved to Texas at the age of two.

He was elected to the Grand Prairie City Council in 2021 and later became the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.

Oye Owolewa. Photo: Instagram (@repoyedc)

In Washington, DC, Owolewa, the Democratic candidate, won an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council.

Local publication, The 51st, reported that Owolewa secured 69 per cent of the vote, against 21 per cent recorded by independent candidate Elissa Silverman.

Owolewa, a pharmacist and son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states, previously served as the District’s elected shadow representative.

The position allows its holder to advocate for Washington, DC, statehood but does not confer voting rights in the US Congress.

Meanwhile, Kazeem, also a Democrat, retained her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 159.

The result of Adeyina’s contest in Georgia had yet to be called as of Wednesday, with votes still being counted.

Vanguard Newspaper

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