History is being made with some of these 2018 primary elections. But what was probably one of the biggest highlights of Tuesday night was when Stacey Abrams, former minority leader in Georgia’s House of Representative, became the first Black woman to win a major party’s nomination for governor. Her victory in Georgia’s Democratic primary is a praise-worthy milestone. If she wins the general election on November 6, Abrams could become the first Black female governor of the U.S.—that’s a massive deal!
Female candidates are kicking ass in this year’s elections and interestingly enough in the south too. Former Sheriff of Dallas County—and openly gay U.S. veteran Lupe Valdez—had a huge victory last night in Texas. She beat Andrew White in the Democratic runoff and became Texas’ first only Lesbian and first Latina gubernatorial nominee. She is now officially running to be Texas governor and if she wins—Valdez will be the first Latina governor and the first democratic governor the state has in 30 years.
Abrams, who beat former Georgia state representative and moderate Stacey Evans, wrote an inspiring victory statement that she posted to Facebook. “Everyone who believed that a little Black girl who sometimes had to go without lights or running water—who grew up to become the first woman to lead in the Georgia General Assembly—could become the first woman gubernatorial nominee from either party in Georgia’s history,” she wrote.
She received endorsements from US Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. Abrams believes Georgia’s traditionally deep red status won’t be an obstacle in her general election candidacy.
“I think we are a blue state, we’re just a little confused. We haven’t had candidates who have done the work of really lifting up the voice,” she told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “We’re not going to win trying to put together the old coalition. We have a new opportunity because Georgia has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. And we know if we take advantage of that change, we can actually get to victory.”
And in another WOC magical moment, former Air Force Intelligence officer Gina Ortiz Jones won the Democratic nomination for Texas U.S. House. She defeated Rick Trevino in a runoff and if she wins in November, Jones will be the first lesbian, first Iraq war veteran and first Filipina-American to represent Texas and Congress and this couldn’t be more exciting. Tuesday night was definitely a victory night for WOC politicians. Amen to that!
