Supply: CECILIA SANCHEZ / Getty
Black candidates shinned throughout election night time Tuesday as Democrats picked up key victories in main battleground states, proving progressives can win purple states no matter President Joe Biden’s approval rankings.
Life has gone full circle for New York Metropolis, exonerated “Central Park 5” member and Democrat Yusef Salaam. On election night time, Salaam, who ran unopposed, received a New York Metropolis Council seat and can now signify a central Harlem district in Higher Manhattan.
Salaam’s victory comes many years after he and 4 different Black and Latino males had been wrongly convicted of the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. They might change into referred to as the “Central Park 5” and spend the subsequent seven years behind bars for against the law they by no means dedicated. In 2002, their convictions had been thrown out after the boys served six to 13 years in jail. Yusef Salaam was arrested at 15 and spent 7 years behind bars.
“For me, because of this we are able to actually change into our ancestors’ wildest goals,” Salaam instructed AP.
New York Metropolis wasn’t the one main American metropolis to elect a Black candidate on Election Day 2024.
Supply: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty
In Philadelphia, Democrat Cherelle Parker was elected to be the town’s subsequent mayor, making her the primary Black lady and first feminine to ever maintain the workplace.
Parker, who’s a former member of the Philadelphia Metropolis Council, received her election over Republican candidate David Oh by a reasonably huge margin, preserving the streak of Democratic mayors within the metropolis of Philadelphia alive and properly. Town hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1952.
Parker has spent nearly all of her profession in politics. She was a Democratic consultant within the Pennsylvania State Home from 2005 till 2015, when she was elected to the Philadelphia Metropolis Council.
Throughout her election for mayor, Parker ran on group and public security, as she vowed to revive the “village” that raised her.
“I’m uniquely ready to make the town the most secure, cleanest, greenest huge metropolis within the nation with entry to financial alternative for all,” she stated.
Supply: Jemal Countess / Getty
Voters in Rhode Island additionally made historical past as Democrat Gabe Amo beat Republican Gerry Leonard to win Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District seat, making Amo the primary Black candidate elected to signify Rhode Island in Congress.
Earlier than operating for Congress, Amo served within the Obama and Biden administrations because the deputy director of the White Home Workplace of Intergovernmental Affairs. The Wheaton School grad and son of immigrants says he’s grateful but in addition able to get to work.
“Undoubtedly, I’m humbled by the true momentous alternative to function the primary particular person of shade,” Amo instructed The Related Press. “However I didn’t run to make historical past. I’m going to be a voice for ensuring we are able to restore confidence and belief regardless of the Republican Get together that’s rife with chaos.”
Amo additionally stated he plans to struggle to guard Social Safety and Medicare in addition to work to legalize abortion rights nationwide and struggle local weather change.
“I definitely consider I’m a part of a generational shift that has been underway earlier than me,” Amo stated.
With Black candidates successful the night time, Democrats appear poised to maintain their momentum going come the overall election in 2024.
SEE ALSO:
Daniel Cameron Loses Governor Election As Kentucky Rejects AG Who Sabotaged Justice For Breonna Taylor
Exonerated 5 Honored With Commemorative Central Park Entryway
The publish Black Candidates Make Historical past As Democrats Win Large On Election Evening appeared first on NewsOne.
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