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Several Caribbean American legislators were victorious or ran unopposed on Tuesday during the important US midterm elections.
Running on the Democratic and Working Families Parties’ lines, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, won re-election by a landslide, defeating her Conservative challenger Menachem M. Raitport by a 70.61 to 15.34 per cent.
With all 373 of the Election Districts reporting, Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, with an overwhelming number of Caribbean nationals, received 111,162 votes to Raitport’s 24,143.
“I’d like to first and foremost thank the voters of the 9th District of New York for the faith that they have placed in me to be their representative in the 118th Session of Congress,” Clarke told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Tuesday night immediately after she was declared the winner.
“I am truly honoured to once again to represent my home district, and be the voice of my neighbours and the wonderfully diverse communities that make the 9th District so very special,” she added.
The congresswoman said she remains “fully committed to fight for the rights and dignity of every Brooklynite.
“I remain focused on passing legislation that delivers on the promise of the best that our nation has to offer to our communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and the Biden administration in delivering on that promise.”
In the adjacent 8th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens, with also a heavy concentration of Caribbean immigrants, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries also won by a landslide.
Jeffries received 93,295 votes, or 69.37 per cent, to his Republican and Conservative challenger Yuri Dashevsky’s 35,486 votes, or 26.38 per cent.
ssemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman
In the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn, including parts of East Flatbush, Canarsie, Crown Heights and Brownsville, New York State Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, won by a landslide.
Chandler-Waterman, who earlier this year succeeded former New York State Assemblyman, Jamaican Nick Perry, now serving as US Ambassador to Jamaica, resoundingly trounced her namesake, Monique Allen-Davy, who ran on the Republican and Conservative Parties’ lines.
With all 64 Election Districts reporting, Chandler-Waterman received 21,697 votes, or 92.07 per cent, to Allen-Davy 1,138, or 4.83 per cent.
CMC/
