US election: Another Nigerian, Esther Agbaje, wins legislative seat

A Nigerian-American, Esther Agbaje, has been declared winner of the Minnesota House of Representatives seat in the 2020 United States election.

Agbaje defeated her closest rival, Alan Shilepsky, by a landslide.

She scored a total of 17,396 votes, which represents 74.6 per cent of the total votes cast.

Shilepsky, a nominee for the Republican Party, scored 4,128 votes, representing 17.7 per cent of the total votes cast.

Agbaje confirmed that she would be representing District 59B in the Minnesota House of Representatives on the platform of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFLP), an affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party, on her website.

The 35-year-old daughter of an Episcopal priest and a librarian, both Nigerian immigrants, defeated longtime state Representative Raymond Dehn in the party’s primary in August.

She is one of four progressive greenhorns who defeated established Democratic legislators in the primary.

Agbaje was born in St. Paul, the state capital of Minnesota, to Nigerian immigrant parents.

Her father, Rev. John, an Episcopal priest, met her mother, Bunmi, a librarian, at the University of Minnesota where they were studying.

She graduated from George Washington University, Washington D.C., with a degree in Political Science.

She also has a law degree from Harvard University, a Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, and has served in the U.S. Department of State, among others.

Earlier, Nigerian-American, Oye Owolewa, was elected as a shadow member of the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.

According to election results on the website of the District of Columbia Board of Elections on Wednesday morning, Owolewa polled 81.59 per cent of the votes, which represents 164,026 votes against Joyce Robinson-Paul, who scored 18,600 votes, and Sohaer Syed with 15,372 votes.

The 31-year-old politician is the first Nigerian congressman in the country’s history.

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