By George Omagbemi
Four Nigerian-Americans have secured elective positions in the November 3 United States midterm elections, winning offices across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania.
The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, all of whom contested on the Democratic Party platform. Another Nigerian-born candidate, Segun Adeyina, was still awaiting the outcome of his re-election bid in Georgia as votes continued to be counted.
In Maryland, Jawando won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells. He previously served on the county council and is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother.
In Texas, 27-year-old Ezeonu secured District 101 in the State House of Representatives. Born in Onitsha, Anambra State, he moved to Texas at the age of two. He had earlier served on the Grand Prairie City Council and became the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.
Owolewa won an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council in Washington, DC. A pharmacist and son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states, he previously served as the District’s shadow representative, a role that advocates for statehood but has no voting rights in Congress.
In Pennsylvania, Kazeem retained her seat in the State House of Representatives for District 159, defeating Republican challenger Michael Bannon.
Meanwhile, Adeyina was leading Republican challenger Charles Lollar in Georgia’s House District 110, but the count was incomplete. His victory had not been confirmed at the time of reporting.
The results have drawn attention to the growing participation of Nigerians and people of Nigerian descent in American public life.
Leave a Reply