United States Midterm: Four Nigerian-Americans Win Elections As Adeyina Leads In Georgia  

Four Nigerian-Americans have secured victories in the November 3 United States midterm elections, while another candidate, Segun Adeyina, was leading in his Georgia race as vote counting continued.

The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, who secured political positions across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania.

In Maryland, Democrat Will Jawando defeated Republican candidate Esther Wells to win the race for Montgomery County executive.

Results published by NBC Washington showed Jawando polling 237,383 votes, representing 78.15 per cent, against Wells’s 66,383 votes, or 21.85 per cent, with 72 per cent of the expected votes counted.

Jawando, a former member of the Montgomery County Council, is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother. His Nigerian heritage and political career have also featured in reports by American publications, including The Baltimore Banner and The Washington Post.

In Texas, 27-year-old Junior Ezeonu won a seat in the State House of Representatives for District 101.

Ezeonu had defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary before emerging as the only candidate in the November general election, following the absence of a Republican challenger.

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 youngest mayor pro tempore in the city’s history.

Similarly, Oye Owolewa won an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia, representing Washington, DC.

The 51st, a local publication, reported that Owolewa secured 69 per cent of the votes, compared with 21 per cent 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, Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 159.

Kazeem, a Democrat, secured another term in the state legislature following her victory in the election.

In Georgia, however, the outcome of Segun Adeyina’s contest remained pending as votes were being counted.

Adeyina was leading Republican challenger Charles Lollar in the race for State House District 110, with preliminary figures published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showing him polling 1,353 votes, representing 66 per cent, against Lollar’s 689 votes, or 34 per cent.

Only eight per cent of the estimated votes had been counted at the time of reporting.

Adeyina, who has represented the district since 2023, was seeking another term in the Georgia State House.