On Tuesday, US voters issued a repudiation of the forces that brought Donald Trump to power last year, electing a wave of candidates with diverse backgrounds and progressive ideologies. The elections a year after Trump’s victory brought a substantial number of firsts and near-firsts for racial and religious minorities, for the LGBT community and for far-left progressives.
- Democrat Wilmot Collins became the first black mayor in the history of Montana, which has an African American population of less than 1%. He won his race for the mayorship of Helena, the state capital, running on the “progressive ticket” with two other candidates who also won.
- Democrats Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala became the first two Latina state representatives in the history of Virginia. Both won their races against Republican incumbents.
- Democrat Vi Lyles became the first black female mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. She ran on a progressive platform aimed at promoting social and economic justice and increasing the city’s minimum wage.
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Lee Carter, a Democratic Socialist, won his election for the Virginia house of delegates in the northern part of the state. Carter was seen as a long shot even by Democrats in the state who reportedly offered Carter minimal support.
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Andrea Jenkins, running for city council in Minneapolis, Minnesota, became the first black transgender woman in the nation to be elected to a major city council.
- In Virginia, Democrat Danica Roem became the first openly transgender person to ever be elected to a US state legislature, and the first who was “out” at the time of their election. Roem defeated Republican Bob Marshall, the architect of several pieces of anti-trans legislation during his time in the statehouse.
- Democrat Justin Fairfax became the second African American elected to statewide office in Virginia, elected on the same ticket as Ralph Northam who won the Virginia governor’s race.
- Democrat Ravi Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor in New Jersey, winning the election for that office in the city of Hoboken. Vin Gopal also became the first Indian American state senator in New Jersey.
- Democrat Jenny Durkan was elected mayor of Seattle, making her the city’s first out lesbian mayor, and its first female mayor in nearly a century.
- Larry Krasner, a progressive district attorney candidate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, won his race on a platform of abolishing money bail and increased accountability for police violence. He was endorsed by the local Black Lives Matter chapter and is arguably the most striking example of a wave of progressive DAs sweeping into office.
