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African Americans lost in Florida and Georgia, but…

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Ayanna (271452)
Ayanna

The race for governors of Florida and Georgia were so close it took days for the results to be finalized. Both states featured Black candidates going up against white Republican candidates. But in other areas of the country, Black Americans won, many in spots traditionally held by whites. According to the Washington Post, Americans appear to have elected a record 53 African Americans to the House — assuming that Republicans William Hurd of Texas and Mia Love of Utah will win their tight races (still undecided). Hurd and Love would be the only two Black Republicans in this wave; the 51 others are Democrats. Forty-four were re-elected. Of those, four-fifths won re-election from majority-minority districts — defined here as districts where non-Hispanic whites form a minority of the voting-age population according to the 2010 Census. Historically, Black representatives have been elected from majority-minority districts. But here’s the big news: Eight of the nine newly elected African Americans won in districts dominated by non-Hispanic whites. Those include Colin Allred from Texas’s 32nd District; Antonio Delgado from New York’s 19th; Jahana Hayes from Connecticut’s 5th; Steven Horsford from Nevada’s 4th; Lucy McBath from Georgia’s 6th; Joe Neguse from Colorado’s 2nd; Ilhan Omar from Minnesota’s 5th; and Lauren Underwood from Illinois’s 14th. A ninth, Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts’ 7th District, beat an incumbent white Democrat in the primary in a district where non-Hispanic whites make up 48 percent of the voting-age population and Blacks just 21 percent.

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