Liberian-American Candidate Becomes First Black Mayor In Montana History

A for­mer refugee who came to Montana more than 20 years ago was elect­ed to lead its cap­i­tal city, Helena, becom­ing the first black per­son to become may­or in the state’s history.

Wilmot Collins oust­ed four-term Jim Smith in Tuesday night’s may­oral race, cap­ping off a night of his­toric firsts through­out the country.

“After last night’s his­toric firsts for many lead­ers across the coun­try, Wilmot is con­fi­dent that the future of this coun­try favors a union of peo­ple from all dif­fer­ent walks of life,” a cam­paign spokesper­son told the Daily News in a statement.

“Most impor­tant­ly, Wilmot is hon­ored to be grant­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ty to go to work for the hard­work­ing and inspir­ing cit­i­zens of Helena!”

The spokesper­son con­firmed he’ll be the first black can­di­date in Montana’s his­to­ry to win a may­oral election.

Collins came to the U.S. 23 years ago, flee­ing civ­il war in his native Liberia. He went on to become an American cit­i­zen and worked in the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, spe­cial­iz­ing in child protection.

But he wasn’t the lone new­ly elect­ed offi­cial to make his­to­ry Tuesday night.

Ravinder Bhalla

Voters in Hoboken select­ed Ravinder Bhalla as the city’s first Sikh may­or, beat­ing out five oppo­nents to lead the New Jersey city.

First open­ly trans­gen­der African American woman elected

His vic­to­ry Tuesday night end­ed a cam­paign marred in the last few days by racist fly­ers that accused the cur­rent coun­cil­man of being a terrorist.

“We’ve been through a bruis­ing campaign…but now is the time we come togeth­er and see who we can work with to bring this city for­ward,” the Garden State native said Tuesday night.

Danica Roem

Danica Roem became the first open trans­gen­der per­son to win a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates.

The for­mer reporter defeat­ed 13-term incum­bent Del. Bob Marshall.

Democrat Ralph Northam elect­ed gov­er­nor of Virginia

She faced a tough run as Marshall’s cam­paign attacked her gen­der iden­ti­ty along the trail.

Andrea Jenkins

Andrea Jenkins also made his­to­ry, becom­ing the first black trans­gen­der woman elect­ed in the United States.

She won a seat on the Minneapolis City Council, col­lect­ing 73% of the Eighth Ward’s votes.

“As an African American trans-iden­ti­fied woman, I know first­hand the feel­ing of being mar­gin­al­ized, left out, thrown under the bus,” she report­ed­ly said Tuesday night. “Those days are over. We don’t just want a seat at the table, we want to set the table.”

Mayor de Blasio defeats Malliotakis to earn sec­ond term

Jenny Durkan

Seattle on Tuesday elect­ed a woman as may­or for the first time since the 1920s — and just the sec­ond in the Coffee City’s history.

That was a giv­en, how­ev­er, since her oppo­nent was also a woman. But she also made his­to­ry as Seattle’s first open­ly les­bian mayor.

Twenty-one can­di­dates ini­tial­ly ran for may­or ear­li­er this year fol­low­ing the res­ig­na­tion of embat­tled Mayor Ed Murray. Read more @ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/liberian-american-candidate-black-mayor-montana-article‑1.3619163