New York, USA— Jamaican-American Wes Moore, whose mother Joy Moore hails from Westmoreland, will become the first black to be elected governor of the state of Maryland, based on results of Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US.

With most of the votes tallied at Jamaica Observer press time, Democrat Moore — who had never held elected office — polled a total of 906,765 to his Republican opponent Dan Cox’s 562,331.

Moore, who was described as “a rock star” by a former US Senator on cable television after his victory, will become the only African-American governor of the 50 governors across the United States.

Less fortunate was Jamaican-born Dr Karen Green who, running also on a Democratic ticket, lost her bid for a seat in the US House of Representative in Florida’s 7th Congressional District.

Green polled 125,914 or 41.5 per cent of the votes against her Republican opponent Cory Mills who took 177, 802 votes. Mills’ win was one of at least four seats which Republicans picked up in Florida, all of which were subjected to redistricting earlier this year based on population change from the last US Census.

Green, who won her party’s nomination in August, is the deputy chairperson for the Florida Democratic Party.

For the seventh-consecutive time, longtime representative Jamaican-American Yvette D Clarke took New York’s 9th Congressional District, whipping her Menachem Raiport 111,162 votes to 24,143.

Clarke, whose mother, Una Clarke, was born in Jamaica, is a leading voice in the US Congress for Jamaica and the Caribbean.