Five Nigerian-Americans Win Seats in US Midterm Elections

Five Nigerian-Americans have emerged victorious in the November 3, 2026, United States midterm elections, securing elective positions across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa, Carol Kazeem and Segun Adeyina, who contested on the Democratic Party platform.

In Maryland, Jawando won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells.

Preliminary election results published by Maryland election authorities showed Jawando leading with 126,351 votes, representing 81.43 per cent, against Wells’s 28,132 votes, or 18.13 per cent, with 20 of the county’s 257 election-day precincts reporting at the time of the update.

Jawando previously served as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council. He is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother.

In Texas, 27-year-old Junior Ezeonu secured a seat in the state’s House of Representatives for District 101.

Ezeonu defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary in March before proceeding to the November election without a Republican opponent.

Results published by the Texas election authorities showed him with 37,278 votes in the uncontested race.

Born in Onitsha, Anambra State, Ezeonu moved to the United States at the age of two. He previously served on the Grand Prairie City Council and became the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.

Meanwhile, Oye Owolewa won an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia.

Owolewa, a pharmacist and son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states, previously served as the District’s elected shadow representative, a position that advocates for Washington, DC’s statehood but does not carry voting rights in the US Congress.

In Pennsylvania, Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the state’s House of Representatives, representing District 159.

Kazeem contested against Republican candidate Michael Bannon in the general election. Preliminary results showed her leading with 12,801 votes against Bannon’s 4,109.

She was among eight Nigerian-Americans who secured legislative seats during the 2022 US midterm elections.

Another Nigerian-born politician, Segun Adeyina, also secured victory in Georgia’s House of Representatives District 110.

Adeyina contested against Republican Charles Lollar in his re-election bid. Although early results showed him leading while a small percentage of votes had been counted, Decision Desk HQ subsequently listed him as the winner.

Adeyina was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2022 and represents parts of Gwinnett County.

He also serves as the executive director of the Nigerian American Public Advisory Committee, an organisation involved in voter education and registration among immigrant communities.

The US midterm elections take place halfway through a president’s four-year term and determine the composition of the country’s Congress.

The 2026 elections involved all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats, alongside governorships, state legislative positions and local government offices.

Election results remain subject to the applicable counting and certification processes in the respective jurisdictions.