By Ghazali Ibrahim
Five politicians of Nigerian descent have emerged victorious in the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, securing elective positions across Maryland, Texas, Washington DC, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa, Carol Kazeem and Segun Adeyina, who contested on the Democratic Party platform.
Their victories span local government and state legislatures, highlighting the growing political participation of Nigerians and people of Nigerian descent in American politics.
In Maryland, Jawando won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells.
Results published by NBC Washington showed Jawando polling 237,383 votes, representing 78.15 per cent, against Wells’ 66,383 votes, or 21.85 per cent, with 72 per cent of the expected votes counted at the time of reporting.
Jawando previously served on the Montgomery County Council. He is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother.
In Texas, 27-year-old Junior Ezeonu secured a seat in the state’s House of Representatives for District 101.
Born in Onitsha, Anambra State, Ezeonu moved to Texas with his family at the age of two.
He defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic Party primary and became the only candidate on the ballot for the November general election after no Republican entered the race.
Before his latest victory, Ezeonu served on the Grand Prairie City Council, where he became the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.
Meanwhile, Oye Owolewa won an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia in Washington DC.
According to local publication The 51st, Owolewa secured 69 per cent of the votes, defeating independent candidate Elissa Silverman, who received 21 per cent.
Owolewa, a pharmacist, is the son of Nigerian immigrants with family roots in Kwara and Osun states. He previously served as the District’s elected shadow representative, a position through which he advocated for Washington DC statehood and voting rights in Congress.
In Pennsylvania, Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the state’s House of Representatives, representing District 159.
Kazeem defeated Republican challenger Michael Bannon to secure another term in the legislature. She was also among eight Nigerian-Americans who won legislative seats during the 2022 US midterm elections.
Another Nigerian-born politician, Segun Adeyina, also secured re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 110.
Adeyina, a Democratic incumbent, contested against Republican Charles Lollar. Although early results showed him leading with 1,353 votes against Lollar’s 689, with only eight per cent of expected votes counted, subsequent election tracking by Decision Desk HQ listed him as the winner.
Adeyina was first elected to the Georgia legislature in 2022 and represents parts of Gwinnett County. He also serves as executive director of the Nigerian American Public Advisory Committee, an organisation involved in voter education and registration among immigrant communities.
The US midterm elections are held every two years, halfway through a president’s four-year term.
The 2026 elections featured contests for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 Senate seats, alongside governorships, state legislative positions and local government offices.
The victories have drawn attention to the growing presence of Nigerian-Americans in the country’s political landscape.
