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Black excellence is showing out this week in politics! Keep reading for a recap of the major milestones you may have missed — explained.
According to ABC News, Kentucky’s 2023 gubernatorial election came to a head on Tuesday, November 7. Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron reportedly challenged Democratic Governor Andy Beshear in Beshear’s quest for reelection.
The outlet reports that during Beshear’s campaign, the governor heavily touted his “effective” leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the 45-year-old reportedly highlighted his leadership during the state’s bouts with “historic” flash flooding and tornadoes.
ABC News and the New York Times both report that Cameron’s campaign tactics seemed to highlight Beshear’s proximity to President Biden largely. According to the New York Times, Biden is “deeply unpopular in the state.”
In turn, the outlet adds that Beshear largely heightened Cameron’s support for an “abortion ban… that contains no exceptions for rape or incest.” Additionally, Cameron has also come under criticism for calling the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor “justified,” per The Courier-Journal.
Following Beshear’s victory, the Democratic governor shared a statement.
“Tonight, Kentucky made a choice, a choice not to move to the right or to the left but to move forward for every single family. A choice to reject ‘team R’ or ‘team D’ and to state clearly that we are one team Kentucky,” Beshear explained, per ABC News.
“It was a victory that sends a loud clear message. A message that candidates should run for something and not against someone, that a candidate should show vision and not sow division and a clear statement that anger politics should end right here and right now.”
Cameron also shared words following his concession to Beshear, asking listeners to “pray” for the reelected governor.
Elsewhere in New York, exonerated “Central Park Five” member Yusef Salaam won a seat in the New York City Council, per AP News. Salaam’s victory follows his seven-year incarceration after he and four other males were accused of raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989.
As The Shade Room previously reported, the guilty verdicts of the “Central Park Five” were overturned by way of DNA evidence in 2002.
Furthermore, AP News reports that Salaam will “represent a central Harlem district on the City Council.”
Watch Salaam’s victory speech below.
Philadelphia also made history by electing its first Black female mayor, Cherelle Parker. According to NBC 10 Philadelphia, Parker is a Democrat and has also become the city’s 100th mayor.
Additionally, the outlet reports that the 51-year-old is a “former city councilwoman” who also served a decade “as a state representative for northwest Philadelphia.”
During Parker’s victory speech, she pledged to prioritize public health and city safety.
“We’re gonna make sure that we put people on the path to self-sufficiency,” Parker reportedly said, per NBC 10 Philadelphia. “You’ve heard me talk about making our public health and safety our No. 1 priority… I don’t apologize about that. We are going to use every legal tool that is in the tool book to make this city safe.”
