Maryland elects first black woman to Congress

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today

LANHAM, Md. (AP) — Democratic lawyer and nonprofit executive Donna Edwards won a special election Tuesday to become Maryland's first black woman elected to Congress.

Edwards beat Republican Peter James in the race to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn's term in Maryland's 4th District. Wynn left office May 31 to take a lobbying job after losing to Edwards in February's Democratic primary by 22 percentage points.

Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.

Once she is sworn in, Democrats will have 236 seats in the House of Representatives to Republicans' 199.

Edwards most recently led the nonprofit Arca Foundation. Her win in February was her second try at the seat after losing to Wynn in 2006 by a slim margin.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-06-17-congress_N.htm?csp=34

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:kick: :bounce: :applause:

[GOPNotForMe]

1. Hats off to Donna!

[OhioChick]

2. Good for Donna Edwards!

:applause:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Great!

:kick:

[rpannier]

4. Beat a republikkan and a republikkan-enabler in the same year

Good for her

[WillParkinson]

5. Very, very sad...

That in 2008 this kind of thing is still considered headline news.

Congratulations to Ms. Edwards.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Better late than never

In the UK :

Dianne Abbot was first elected to parliament on June 11 1987, as the MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington. She remained the only black woman in the House until the election of Oona King in 1997, who lost her seat to George Galloway's Respect party following her support for the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/domestic-policy/equality/race-relations/20th-anniversary-first-black-female-mp-$474639.htm

The reference to Oona King's subsequent loss of her seat seems to me to be over emphasised here IMHO.

[momster]

7. WTG!

She's terrific and nearly beat Wynn last time around.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

8. Way to go, Donna!! Getting rid of DLC scum like Al Wynn never looked so good!

I'm so proud of her and so happy that she beat DLC shill, Al Wynn!!!

[flashl]

9. Maryland elects 1st black woman to Congress

Source: Yahoo (AP)

LANHAM, Md. - Democratic lawyer and nonprofit executive Donna Edwards won a special election Tuesday to become Maryland's first black woman elected to Congress.

Edwards beat Republican Peter James in the race to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn's term in Maryland's 4th District. Wynn left office May 31 to take a lobbying job after losing to Edwards in February's Democratic primary by 22 percentage points.

Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.

Once she is sworn in, Democrats will have 236 seats in the House to Republicans' 199.

Yahoo (AP)

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_el_ho/maryland_congress;_ylt=Ai3mp_hKy0pHK1O_0NjZtuhG2ocA

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Emphasis: This is Maryland.

Not Mississippi. Not Alabama. Not Georgia.

[DUlover2909]

11. One at time, like every step on a thousand mile journey.

One foot in front of the other. Congrats!

[KamaAina]

16. You have to read down to see "Edwards had 93 percent of the vote"

(that is NOT a typo!)

James, 52, of Germantown, focused much of his campaign on trying to alert voters to what he says are fundamental flaws in the nation's banking system. He describes himself as a Republican in the vein of Ron Paul, the libertarian-minded Republican presidential candidate....

Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.

93 percent of the vote!! Maybe they could just invoke the "mercy rule", you know, like when a team in Little League is 10 runs ahead? :rofl:

edit: caps

[kwassa]

17. only 5% of the electorate voted in this special election

Donna had already won the primary, which is the real election here in Maryland.

[Olney Blue]

12. Congratulations, Representative Edwards!!!!!!!!

:yourock: Go get 'em!

[pleah]

13. K&R for the good news!

[many a good man]

14. Note: she's not just any Dem, she PROGRESSIVE

PDA did a lot of work helping her to victory. Congrats all around.

[Doctor_J]

15. Did she beat out Wynn by calling him a DINO/Smirkenabler?

:shrug: