Nigerian-Americans Achieve Electoral Success in US Midterms

In the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, four Nigerian-Americans achieved significant victories. Will Jawando was elected Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland, receiving 195,872 votes (about 79 percent) against Republican Esther Wells.

Jawando, who has been an at-large member of the county council since 2018, succeeds Marc Elrich. Junior Ezeonu, 27, won the District 101 seat in the Texas House of Representatives, scoring 37,278 votes after unseating incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary.

Oye Owolewa won an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia, having previously served as the district's elected shadow representative. Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, defeating Republican Mike Bannon by a margin of 12,801 votes to 4,109.

Additionally, Segun Adeyina was leading in Georgia’s House District 110 contest, representing parts of Gwinnett County. These results reflect the growing political influence of the Nigerian diaspora in the US.