Caribbean legislators victorious in US midterm elections
NEW YORK, (CMC) – Several Caribbean-American legislators were victorious or ran unopposed on Tuesday during the US midterm elections.
Running on the Democratic and Working Families Parties’ lines, Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, won by a landslide, defeating her conservative challenger, Menachem M Raitport, by a 70.61 to 15.34 per cent.
With all 373 of the Election Districts reporting, Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn with an overwhelming number of Caribbean nationals, received 111,162 votes to Raitport’s 24,143.
“I’d like to first and foremost thank the voters of the 9th District of New York for the faith that they have placed in me to be their representative in the 118th Session of Congress,” Clarke said Tuesday night immediately after she was declared the winner.
“I am truly honoured to once again represent my home district, and be the voice of my neighbours and the wonderfully diverse communities that make the 9th District so very special,” she added.
The congresswoman said she remains fully committed to fighting for the rights and dignity of every Brooklynite.
“I remain focused on passing legislation that delivers on the promise of the best that our nation has to offer to our communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and the Biden administration in delivering on that promise,” she said.
In the adjacent 8th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens, with also a heavy concentration of Caribbean immigrants, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries also won by a landslide.
Jeffries received 93,295 votes, or 69.37 per cent, to his Republican and Conservative challenger Yuri Dashevsky’s 35,486 votes, or 26.38 per cent.
In the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn, including parts of East Flatbush, Canarsie, Crown Heights and Brownsville, New York State Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, won by a landslide.
Other Caribbean winners are: New York State Assemblyman Brian A Cunningham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 43rd Assembly District in Brooklyn; New York State Assemblywoman Phara Souffrant Forrest, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and whose husband is Jamaican. She represents the 57th Assembly District in Brooklyn; and New York State Assemblywoman, Jaime R Williams, the Trinidadian-born representative for the 59th Assembly District in Brooklyn.
But, there were also Caribbean losers in the midterm elections. With all 76 of the Election Districts reporting in the 46th Assembly District in Brooklyn, incumbent Democrat, Assemblywoman, Mathylde Frontus, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, lost to Alec Brook-Krasny, running on the Republican and Conservative Parties’ lines.