Muslim women make history, the first Afro-Latinos elected to the Georgia Assembly, and the race to the runoff begins.
Muslim women make history, the first Afro-Latinos elected to the Georgia Assembly, and the race to the runoff begins.
Your 285 South Post-Election Roundup.
What a week. As we all know by now, Stacey Abrams lost to Brian Kemp and the race between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is headed to a runoff. Voting could start as early as November 28th, depending on what county you're in, and election day is December 6th. More info here.
And now, the headlines you might have missed:
Exit polls show support for Abrams among Asian and Latino voters has dropped since 2018 election: A lot of things have changed since 2018, including the allegiances of many voters. 55 percent of Latino voters voted for Stacey Abrams, 43 percent voted for Brian Kemp, and 9 percent supported Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel. The exit poll numbers for Asian voters weren't that different - 54 percent of Asian voters cast their ballots for Abrams, and 46 percent for Kemp. In 2018, 62 percent of Latino voters and 78 percent of Asian voters supported Abrams. More exit polls numbers from NBC here.
Muslim women make history in Georgia: There will be four Muslims - all representing Gwinnett County- serving in the Georgia General Assembly.
Democrat Nabilah Islam won against her Republican challenger, Josh McKay in District 7, becoming the first Muslim woman to secure a seat in the Georgia State Senate. This is the second time Islam, a Gwinnett Country resident and daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, was running for public office (she ran for a House seat in Congress in 2019).
Ruwa Romman (D) won against Republican candidate John Chan and will serve in the Georgia State House, representing District 97, which covers Duluth, Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Berkeley Lake. She's the first Muslim woman and Palestinian, to serve on the Georgia House.
Incumbent Sheikh Raman held on to his State seat representing District 5, and Farooq Mughal was elected to represent Georgia House District 105.
I reached out to Romman to see what her week has been like for and she told me: "The past couple of days have been surreal. We made history in Georgia and I will now be the first Muslim woman ever elected to the Georgia state house and first Palestinian elected to any public office in Georgia. This is an honor that I do not take lightly, and I hope to adequately represent my community during my term. I also hope that this moment proves to people that change can happen if we work together and engage in this process..."
Another one for the history books- Afro-Latino candidates: Senator-elect Jason Esteves (D) and Representative-elect Phil Olayele (D) became the first Afro-Latinos elected to the Georgia Legislature, according to a spokesperson from the Georgia Association for Latino Elected Officials (who qualified the statement with, "as far as we know").
They'll join four others with Latino backgrounds in the Georgia Assembly, three of whom are Republican - Senator Jason Anavitarte (R), Representative Pedro Marin (D), Representative-elect Rey Martinez (R), and Representative Steven Sainz (R).
A total of 10 Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates will serve on the Georgia Legislature: Eight of them are Democrats, and two are Republicans. Four of them - Senator Sheikh Raman, Senator Michelle Au, Representative Sam Park, and Representative Marvin Lim - are incumbents who have held on to their seats. The Georgia Asian Times has a helpful list that breaks down what districts they're in and what percent of the vote they secured. Check it out here. *Note - the list leaves out Representative-elect Saira Draper, who has Pakistani heritage.*
I'm going to leave you with this Tweet from Senator Michelle Au, on her parent's reaction to her win:
Top Photo Credit: Getty Images