Full List: Nigerian-Americans Who Won in US 2026 Midterm Election
- Four Nigerian-Americans secured elective positions across Maryland, Texas, Washington DC and Pennsylvania in the November 3 midterm elections
- The winners include Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, contesting on the Democratic Party platform
- A fifth Nigerian-American candidate, Segun Adeyina, was leading his Georgia race but votes were still being counted at the time of reporting
PAY ATTENTION: Mark Legit.ng as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
Four Nigerian-Americans have been confirmed as winners in the November 3, 2026 US midterm elections, with a fifth candidate's race still undecided as vote counting continued.
Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa, and Carol Kazeem all ran on the Democratic Party platform and claimed seats spanning local government and state legislatures. The elections, held every four years at the midpoint of a president's term, determine control of all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the Senate's 100 seats, as well as governorships and state and local positions.
Source: Getty Images
Will Jawando
Jawando won the race for Montgomery County executive in Maryland, beating Republican Esther Wells convincingly. Figures published by NBC Washington showed Jawando taking 237,383 votes, or 78.15 per cent, against Wells's 66,383 votes, with 72 per cent of the expected vote counted at that point. He previously served on the Montgomery County Council and is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother.
Junior Ezeonu
At 27 years old, Ezeonu flipped a seat in the Texas House of Representatives for District 101, having defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary earlier in the year. No Republican entered the November general election, leaving him as the sole candidate on the ballot. Born in Onitsha, Anambra State, he relocated to Texas at the age of two. He had previously served on the Grand Prairie City Council from 2021 and went on to become the city's youngest ever mayor pro tempore.
Oye Owolewa
In Washington, DC, Owolewa secured an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council, drawing 69 per cent of the vote against independent candidate Elissa Silverman's 21 per cent, according to local publication The 51st. A pharmacist by profession, Owolewa is the son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states. He had served previously as the District's elected shadow representative, a role that advocates for DC statehood but carries no voting rights in the US Congress.
Carol Kazeem
Kazeem held on to her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for District 159, defeating Republican Michael Bannon. Election data from MultiState Elections confirmed her as the winner. She was among eight Nigerian-Americans who first won legislative seats during the 2022 US midterm elections.
Segun Adeyina
The outcome of Adeyina's bid for re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives for District 110 remained unclear as votes were still being tallied. He was shown leading Republican Charles Lollar by 1,353 votes to 689, though only eight per cent of estimated votes had been counted at that stage. Adeyina, who was first elected to the Georgia House in 2022, is the executive director of the Nigerian American Public Advisory Committee, an organisation focused on voter education and registration within immigrant communities.
Source: Getty Images
US court dismisses motion filed against Tinubu
Legit.ng earlier reported that a US federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled on October 30, 2026, on a motion seeking discovery from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group.
The court also denied a motion by nonparty Karl Von Batten to file an amicus curiae brief in the FOIA litigation involving the FBI and DEA.
Plaintiff Aaron Greenspan's motion for summary judgment was also denied in the same ruling.
Source: Legit.ng
