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.
The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa, and Carol Kazeem. They 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%, against Wells’s 66,383 votes, or 21.85%, with 72% of the expected votes counted.
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.
Youngest Lawmaker and Council Victories
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.
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% of the vote, against 21% 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.
Historic Firsts in Governor Races
Republican US Representative Byron Donalds has been elected Florida’s first Black governor, defeating Democratic candidate David Jolly in the November 3 general election, according to CBS News projections.
Donalds, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump who represents Southwest Florida in Congress, will succeed Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who was barred from seeking a third consecutive term.
His victory marks a historic milestone for Florida, which has never elected a Black governor in its 180-year history. Donalds also joins a small group of Black Americans elected to lead a US state.
Before the 2026 midterm elections, only three Black governors had been elected in the country’s history, all Democrats: Douglas Wilder of Virginia, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, and Wes Moore of Maryland, according to The Associated Press.
Donalds largely avoided making race a central theme of his campaign.
In a March interview with CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede, he acknowledged the significance of potentially becoming the first Black Republican governor of a Southern state. Still, he said he preferred to focus on his conservative policies and political principles.
Donalds, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, secured the Republican gubernatorial nomination in August with Trump’s endorsement.
During his campaign, he prioritised tax cuts, lower property insurance costs, and expanded educational opportunities.
Bottoms Makes History in Georgia
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state and the first woman to lead Georgia.
The former Atlanta mayor defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson, according to US media projections, securing victory in one of the country’s most closely contested political battlegrounds.
Bottoms, 56, succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is leaving office after serving two consecutive terms. She previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Her victory marks a significant milestone for Black women in American politics, who have long been a major constituency within the Democratic Party but remain underrepresented in the country’s highest elected offices.
The same evening, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, a US territory, becoming the first Black woman to lead a US jurisdiction.
Bottoms’ victory also signals a shift in Georgia’s political landscape, where Black voters have played a central role in the Democratic coalition that helped transform the traditionally Republican state into a national electoral battleground.
Republicans had controlled Georgia’s governor’s office for more than two decades.
Her election comes eight years after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams became the first Black woman nominated for governor by a major US political party.
Abrams lost Georgia’s gubernatorial elections in 2018 and 2022, but her campaigns helped build a multigenerational and multiracial coalition that increased Democratic voter turnout.
