By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Nov. 3, 2021: A number of Caribbean Americans were successful on Tuesday night as the US held general elections across several states.
In New York, Haitian-born Rita Joseph and Mercedes Narcisse were elected to New York City Council for the very first time. Joseph, a school teacher running in the 40th Councilmanic district in Brooklyn, registered a landslide victory over her Haitian Republican compatriot Constantine Jean-Pierre.
With 88.46 per cent of precincts reporting, Joseph received 18,631 votes, or 93.1 per cent, to Jean-Pierre’s 1,373 votes, or 6.9 per cent.
In the 46th Council District in Brooklyn, Registered Nurse Narcisse resoundingly trounced her Republican challenger, Donald Cranston.
Narcisse received 15,914 votes, or 62.8 per cent, to Cranston’s 9,408 votes, or 37.2 per cent.
Council Member Farah Louis, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, was also re-elected as was Jamaican American Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
In the 45th Council District in Brooklyn, Louis won by a landslide, securing 17,933 votes, or 94.3 percent, to Independent Louis Cespedes’ 1,078 votes.
Richards received 160,081 votes, or 65,8 per cent, with 79.01 per cent reporting to Thomas Zmich’s 83,051 votes, or 34.2 per cent.
Caribbean American Public advocate, Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, was re-elected to the post.
“You gave me your trust, and your voice when you put me in this role, and I work every day to live up to that trust, to raise your voice,” Williams, 45, told campaign supporters at a rally in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. “I will never take that for granted, no matter where I go, no matter what I do.”
Williams, who describes himself as an activist politician, received 68.47 percent of the votes, defeating Devi Elizabeth Nampiaparampil, running as a Republican.
“I pledge to continue to combine activism and legislation to help make our city a truly progressive beacon, and fight for a just and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Williams.
In Buffalo, update New York, Mayor Byron Brown, whose roots extend to Montserrat through his grandparents, looks set to be returned as mayor in a write-in- campaign. Despite losing his primary, Brown won about 59% of votes as a write-in candidate, but Erie County won’t begin to tabulate the write-in votes until November 17th.
In Virginia, Jamaican immigrant Winsome Sears, a conservative Republican, will be Virginia’s next lieutenant governor, breaking barriers as the first female and the first woman of color in the office in the commonwealth’s 400-year legislative history.
Sears won over Democrat Del. Hala Ayala, also a woman of color, on Wednesday and will serve alongside Republican Glenn Youngkin, the winner of the Virginia gubernatorial race.
Sears is the first Black Republican woman to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly, representing the 90th district from 2002 for one term. In 2004, she launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress against Democrat Rep. Bobby Scott. She is also a Marine veteran, former vice president of the Virginia Board of Education and owner of an appliance business. She is a wife and mother of three daughters. In 2012, her 27-year-old daughter DeJon L’Air Williams and two grandchildren died in a car accident.
In South Florida, the primary race for Florida’s 20th Congressional seat to replace Congressman Alcee Hastings, heads to a recount between Jamaican Dale Holness and and healthcare executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. Both ended with 24 percent of the votes cast. The eventual winner of the Democratic primary will face Mariner in a special election in January to replace the seat vacated by the late Hastings.
