Black Caribbean Americans Win Big In U.S. Elections

BY NAN News Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Nov. 9, 2022: Black Caribbean Americans were among the big winners on the Democratic ticket last night in the US mid-terms with at least two making history.

Jamaican American Westley ‘Wes’ Watende Omari Moore made history in Maryland, becoming the state’s first black governor with 908,074 votes or almost 60 percent of the 91 percent counted.

Moore, 44, a former investment banker, author, and television producer, whose Jamaican immigrant parents were both media professionals, defeated Republican Dan Cox.

Also making history was 25-year-old Caribbean roots Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a community organizer, who has officially become the first Gen Z member elected to Congress after winning a House seat in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, the seat once held by Val Demmings who lost her bid for Senate Tuesday night. Frost’s roots extend to Cuba through his grandmother Yeya and is a first-generation Afro-Cuban American.

Maxwell Frost was an Uber driver who is now the first Gen Z congressmember elect. His roots extend to Cuba through his grandmother Yeya and is a first-generation Afro-Cuban American.. (Photo by Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Frost beat Republican Calvin Wimbish, a retired 72-year-old Army Green Beret, to take the Orlando-based 10th Congressional seat. He garnered 59 percent or 117,745 votes.

Meanwhile, Haitian American Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick easily won a full term in Congress in Florida’s 20th congressional district, with 74 % or 101,857 votes over Black Republican Drew Montez Clark

In New York, Jamaican American Yvette Clarke won over Menachem Raitport with a whopping 82.2% or 111,162 of the votes.

Also in Florida, Marleine Bastien, a longtime community organizer and activist, won her race to make history as the first Haitian woman to hold a Miami-Dade County Commission seat. Her win in the hotly contested race that once featured four Haitian Americans largely reflects the path of South Florida’s Haitian community in many ways, some say.

With all precincts reporting, all in-person votes counted and a full tally of mail-in ballots, Bastien had 59% of the 37,430 votes cast compared to 41% for Bien-Aime.

“Tonight’s victory is for ALL the residents of District 2!” Bastien wrote on Twitter at 9:43 p.m. on Tuesday night.

LOSES

However, Jamaican Karen Green, who would have made history as the first Jamaican immigrant to serve in the US Congress, lost to Republican Corey Mills. Green secured 125,914 of the votes or 41.5 percent to Mill’s 177,802 votes or 58.5%.

Green was vying for Florida’s 7th Congressional seat, which includes the predominantly white suburban areas between Orlando and Daytona Beach and including St. Augustine. Mills is a United States Army veteran who worked in the administration of President Donald Trump. The seat was left vacant by Democrat Stephanie Murphy. Once a solid Democratic area, the district was controversially redrawn in April to include Orange and Volusia counties which traditionally favored Republicans.

Haitian American Naomi Esther Blemur lost her bid for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture against Republican Wilton Simpson. Simpson is a multi-millionaire egg farm owner and a Republican, whose family has been in Florida for five generations. Blemur, a Democrat, is an accountant and granddaughter of a farm worker.

While Jamaican Richard Campbell lost his bid for the post of Mayor of Lauderhill to Ken Thurston. Thurston secured 8,843 votes to Campbell’s 7,664.