Four Nigerian-Americans Win Seats in US Midterm Elections

Four Nigerian-Americans have won elective positions in the United States midterm elections held on November 3, according to results released on Wednesday.

The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, who contested under the Democratic Party and secured seats across Maryland, Texas, Washington DC and Pennsylvania.

In Maryland, Jawando won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells with 237,383 votes, representing 78 per cent of the votes counted.

In Texas, 27-year-old Junior Ezeonu won a seat in the State House of Representatives for District 101. Ezeonu, who was born in Onitsha, had earlier defeated the incumbent, Chris Turner, in the Democratic primary.

Meanwhile, Oye Owolewa secured an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council in Washington DC. He polled 69 per cent of the votes to defeat independent candidate Elissa Silverman.

In Pennsylvania, Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the state House of Representatives for District 159 after defeating Republican candidate Michael Bannon.

Another Nigerian-American, Segun Adeyina, was still leading in his race for Georgia House District 110 as of Wednesday.

The election results remain subject to final certification by the relevant election authorities.