Selena Hill of Black Enterprise is reporting seven black candidates made history in the 2017 November elections. The Burton Wire offers a few of the highlights:
Vi Lyles: Elected Charlotte’s First Black Woman Mayor
Public servant and all around lovely person Vi Lyles, became the first African-American woman elected as mayor the Queen City of Charlotte, NC. This win is especially gratifying considering she now holds the office formerly held by North Carolina’s dethroned, acrimonious uber conservative and now former Governor Pat McCrory. We know he’s sitting somewhere sulking which adds to the celebratory nature of Lyles’ much deserved historic win.
Andrea Jenkins: First Black Transgender Woman Elected to Office
Meet the “trans-identified woman” who won 73% of Minneapolis’ eighth ward and beat the brakes off of three other candidates in the process. She joins Danica Roem, the first openly trans-identified woman to serve in a state legislature. Roem defeated incumbent Virginia delegate Bob Marshall, the man who introduced a state bill that would allow licensed businesses to refuse services to gays. He also introduced a bill to restrict transgender people’s access to public restrooms. Can you say, “Poetic Justice?”
Justin Fairfax: Virginia Gets a Second Black Lieutenant Governor
It was 30 years in the making but Justin Fairfax, 38, was elected Lieutenant Governor continuing the legacy of L. Douglas Wilder, the Commonwealth’s first black Lieutenant Governor in 1985 and subsequently Governor in 1989. post-reconstruction. A state senator, Fairfax is poised to assume the next Governor which will allow him to make history again.
Read about more game changers in the 2017 November elections on Black Enterprise.
The candidate descriptions were written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Follow The Burton Wire on Twitter or Instagram @TheBurtonWire.
