By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Nov. 11, 2016: A Caribbean born immigrant and another three whose roots extend to the Caribbean will be the new faces in the new Congress next year.
Dominican Republic born Adriano Espaillat is heading to the House of Representatives in Washington DC. He will replace veteran Congressman Charles Rangel and will be the first Dominican congressman in the Republican-controlled House.
Espaillat, a Democrat, overwhelmingly defeated his Republican rival, Tony Evans, by a 87 to 9 percent margin for the Harlem seat.
In a tweet, Espaillat expressed his deep gratitude to the voters who backed his candidacy on Nov. 8.
“I am deeply grateful to the people of the 13th Congressional District for electing me to serve as your next Congressman,” Espaillat, who moved to the country from the Dominican Republic when he was 9 and lived for two years as an undocumented immigrant before gaining citizenship, tweeted.
Joining Espaillat in the House will be Democrat Darren Soto, whose victory made him the politician of Puerto Rican descent to represent Florida in Congress.
Cuban-born Republican Carlos Curbelo of Florida will also be in the House. He comfortably beat Democrat Joe Garcia in the 26th district, whom he unseated in 2014, by a 53-41 margin.
In the Senate, Democrat Kamala Harris, California’s former attorney general, will become the first woman of color there. The daughter of a Jamaican immigrant father and an Indian immigrant mother, was elected over Loretta Sanchez in California with 66 percent of the vote, a margin that would gave her the largest win by a non-incumbent senator since Hiram Johnson in 1916.
On Thursday she tweeted: “Let us have the courage to stand up for the ideals of our country. Don’t lose heart. Show heart.”
