Caribbean-American candidates in New York win re-election by wide margins in midterms
Yvette Clarke secured an 11th term in Congress as Caribbean-heritage state legislators in Brooklyn were returned, several unopposed, amid a Democratic sweep.
NEW YORK, United States. Caribbean-American candidates in New York comfortably won re-election in the US midterm elections on Tuesday 3 November, as voters handed Democrats control of both houses of Congress in what has been described as a rejection of President Donald Trump's policies.
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, beat her Republican challenger, Joel Azumah, by 146,503 votes (82.09 per cent) to 30,378 (17.02 per cent), according to preliminary results. Clarke chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.
"Thank you to the great people of New York's 9th Congressional District for entrusting me with an 11th term as our community's federal representative in Washington, D.C.," Clarke said in her victory speech. "Brooklyn has always been, and will always be, my home."
State legislature
Guyanese-born State Senator Roxanne Persaud (19th District) and Assembly Member Monique Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, were both unopposed. Persaud received 55,828 votes and Chandler-Waterman 27,575.
In the 42nd Assembly District, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and a former chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, won 28,339 votes (90 per cent) against Republican Herman Hall, the Grenadian-born publisher of Everybody's Caribbean Magazine, who took 3,154.
Brian Cunningham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, held the 43rd Assembly District with 35,501 votes (91.2 per cent) to 3,447 for Republican Anna Shpilkovskaya. Trinidadian-born Jaime Williams, the Democratic incumbent in Assembly District 59, received 25,402 votes (90 per cent) against Working Families Party challenger Jibreel Jalloh's 2,818.
Jeffries, Hochul and James
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose 8th Congressional District in Brooklyn and Queens includes a large Caribbean population, won 128,197 votes (78.94 per cent) to Republican Lewis Mizrahi's 31,969, with 88 per cent of precincts reporting. Jeffries is poised to become the first Black Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
"This is a change election," Jeffries told supporters in Washington. "Things are broken. We need a Congress that puts the American people first."
Governor Kathy Hochul was re-elected with 60.10 per cent of the vote against Republican Bruce Blakeman's 39.70 per cent. Attorney General Letitia James, who has challenged several Trump administration policies in court, including on Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, won 60.3 per cent against Republican Saritha Komatireddy's 39.7 per cent.
