Virginia Closer to Electing its First Woman of Color Lieutenant Governor
After winning the Democratic nomination, Hala Ayala would be Virginia s first woman of color to serve in the position if elected in the November general election. Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu via Getty Images
Virginia held its Democratic Primary Election on Tuesday, yielding a victory for one of several women of color candidates who sought to lead the Commonwealth.
Hala Ayala, the first Afro-Latina elected to Virginia’s General Assembly, won the June 8 primary, advancing in her quest to become the state’s next Lieutenant Governor. If successful in the General Election in November, she stands to make history as Virginia’s first woman and its first Afro-Latina Lt. Governor.
Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) has officially entered the race for the U.S. Senate in 2022. The Congresswoman is seeking to become the first Black person and only the second woman to represent Florida as a Senator.
“When you grow up in the South poor, Black and female, you have to have faith in progress and opportunity. My father was a janitor and my mother was a maid she said: ‘never tire of doing good, never tire,” said Demings in her announcement. “I’ve never tired of representing Florida, not for one single moment. I’ve never tired of standing up for what I believe is right. Now I’m running for the United States Senate because of two simple words: never tire.”
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
After graduating from college 35 years ago this week I took a job on a U.S. Senate campaign because I thought that getting good people elected to Congress was the cure for an unhealthy democracy. But after years of working for terrific candidates at all levels of government, I realized that it wasn’t a lack of good candidates that was causing dysfunction in Washington. Rather, it was then and still is the infrastructure of our electoral system that prioritizes handfuls of voters in swing states, protects incumbents, and solidifies the overrepresentation of white men in politics.
Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe is the front-runner going into Tuesday's gubernatorial primary in Virginia. But the other candidates aren't ready to concede this race.