History was made in Pennsylvania yesterday. First, Representative-elect Helen Tai won a special election for Pennsylvania House District 178, which has been Republican since 1983, flipping the district from red to blue. This is an area Trump won by a three-point margin in 2016.
However, the most notable win is North Philadelphia native Malcolm Kenyatta. The 27-year-old ran in the primary of Philadelphia’s 181st District and won. PhillyMag.com reports, “He is the first openly gay candidate of color to win a state house primary in Pennsylvania.” In addition, Kenyatta appears to be the only Black candidate of note to win yesterday. Out of four states, there were reportedly no statewide Black candidates who were victorious.
In November’s general election, Kenyatta will be up against Republican T. Milton Street. That said, Philadelphia is a predominately Democratic area, so it will be difficult for a Republican to win.
Politics is in Malcolm’s soul. He is the grandson of Muhammad Kenyatta, a civil rights leader, minister, and local politician who ran for mayor of Philadelphia in 1975. According to Malcolmforpa.com, “Malcolm got his first start in community activism at the young age of 11 when he ran for junior block captain.”
He has also worked for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and served on the boards of Equality Pennsylvania, Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club and the Philadelphia branch of the National Organization for Women (NOW). He was also awarded the Volunteer Service Award by President Barack Obama in 2016.
A graduate of Temple University, he was elected as a delegate for Hillary Clinton to the 2016 Democratic National Convention with just under 82,000 votes, the second highest vote total of any delegate in Pennsylvania. Kenyatta was even featured in one of Clinton’s 2016 campaign ads. See below:
Kenyatta’s campaigning was packed full of grassroots efforts and reached out directly to people in the district. As a native son of North Philadelphia, who is only 27, his win is crucial and is hopefully indicative of the history-making wins we will see in November.
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Meet Malcolm Kenyatta, Who Just Made Political History In Pennsylvania was originally published on newsone.com
