Four Nigerian-Americans have won elective positions in the November 3, 2026, midterm elections in the United States, while the outcome of another candidate, Segun Adeyina, initially remained undecided as votes continued to be counted in Georgia.
However, subsequent election updates have confirmed Adeyina’s re-election, while another Nigerian-born politician, Gabe Okoye, also retained his seat in the Georgia House of Representatives, bringing the number of Nigerian-Americans reported to have secured electoral victories to six.
The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa, Carol Kazeem, Adeyina and Okoye, who secured positions in local government and state legislatures across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Their victories represent another significant showing by Nigerians and people of Nigerian descent in American politics, with candidates securing electoral mandates at different levels of government. The results also reflect the growing participation of Nigerians in the political process of their adopted country, particularly in local government and state legislatures.
In Maryland, Jawando, the Democratic Party candidate, won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating his Republican challenger, Esther Wells.
Results published by NBC Washington on Wednesday showed Jawando securing 237,383 votes, representing 78.15 per cent, against Wells’s 66,383 votes, or 21.85 per cent, with 72 per cent of the expected vote counted.
The victory followed a competitive Democratic primary in June, in which Jawando defeated fellow Montgomery County Council members Andrew Friedson and Evan Glass to emerge as the party’s candidate.
The 43-year-old politician had previously served as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council, where he was involved in local governance and policy issues, including education funding and affordable housing.
Jawando, who was born in Montgomery County to a Nigerian father, Olayinka Jawando, and an American mother, is expected to succeed Marc Elrich, who has occupied the county executive position since 2018 but could not seek another term because of term limits.
His election marks a significant progression in his political career, moving from the county legislature to the executive office, which oversees the administration of one of Maryland’s most populous counties.
In Texas, 27-year-old Junior Ezeonu secured a seat in the State House of Representatives for District 101 after defeating incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary.
Ezeonu faced no Republican opposition in the November general election, making him the only candidate on the ballot for the position.
Results published by the Texas Tribune and the Texas election authorities confirmed his victory, with the candidate recording 37,278 votes in the District 101 contest.
According to his campaign biography, Ezeonu was born in Onitsha, Anambra State, and relocated to Texas with his family at the age of two.
He began his political career at the local government level when he was elected to the Grand Prairie City Council in 2021, later becoming the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.
His emergence in the Texas legislature represents a progression from municipal politics to state-level lawmaking. At 27, Ezeonu is also among the younger politicians taking up legislative responsibilities in the United States.
His election is particularly notable because he secured the Democratic nomination by defeating an incumbent before proceeding to the general election without a Republican challenger.
In Washington, DC, Oye Owolewa, also a Democratic candidate, won an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council.
Local news publication, The 51st, reported that Owolewa secured 69 per cent of the votes, defeating independent candidate Elissa Silverman, who polled 21 per cent in the first-choice voting count.
Both candidates secured at-large positions on the council, with the results reflecting the importance of the District’s new ranked-choice voting arrangement in determining the successful candidates.
A pharmacist and son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states, Owolewa previously served as the District’s elected shadow representative.
The position involves advocating for Washington, DC’s statehood and greater representation in the US Congress but does not carry voting rights in the federal legislature.
His election to the District Council provides him with a more direct legislative platform to participate in decisions affecting residents, including issues relating to public services, education, healthcare and housing.
Owolewa’s political journey has also been closely associated with his Nigerian roots, which have featured prominently in his public profile and advocacy for greater political representation in the American capital.
Meanwhile, Carol Kazeem retained her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 159.
Kazeem, who contested on the Democratic Party platform, defeated Republican candidate Michael Bannon, according to results published by MultiState Elections and subsequent reports on the outcome.
Her victory marks another electoral success for the Nigerian-American lawmaker, who was first elected to the Pennsylvania legislature in 2022.
She was among eight Nigerian-Americans who secured legislative positions during the 2022 US midterm elections, making her latest victory a continuation of her political career in the state.
Kazeem, who was born in Pennsylvania, represents parts of Delaware County. Her re-election allows her to continue participating in legislative debates and decisions affecting her constituents and the wider state.
Her victory also adds to the number of Nigerian-Americans who have maintained a presence in American state legislatures through successive election cycles.
However, the race involving Nigerian-born Democratic incumbent Segun Adeyina in Georgia initially remained undecided as counting continued.
Adeyina was seeking re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives for District 110, where he faced Republican challenger Charles Lollar.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s election tracker initially showed Adeyina leading with 1,353 votes against Lollar’s 689 votes. However, only eight per cent of the estimated votes had been counted at the time of the update, making it too early to determine the eventual winner.
Subsequent results, however, confirmed Adeyina’s victory, with the incumbent securing approximately 75.6 per cent of the votes against Lollar’s 24.4 per cent.
The result extended Adeyina’s tenure in the Georgia legislature, where he was first elected in 2022 and represents parts of Gwinnett County.
His official legislative biography identifies him as the executive director of the Nigerian American Public Advisory Committee, an organisation involved in voter education and registration among immigrant communities.
Another Nigerian-born politician, Gabe Okoye, also retained his seat in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 102.
Okoye, who faced no opponent in the general election, secured another term in the legislature, further strengthening Nigerian representation in Georgia’s political structure.
The victories of Adeyina and Okoye mean Georgia accounted for two of the six electoral successes recorded by politicians of Nigerian descent in the elections.
The updated results also highlight the need to distinguish between preliminary election-night figures and subsequent vote counts, particularly in contests where only a small proportion of expected ballots had initially been reported.
The November 3 elections were part of the US midterm electoral cycle, held halfway through a president’s four-year tenure. The polls determine the composition of Congress, as well as several state and local government positions across the country.
In the 2026 elections, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate were contested, alongside governorships, state legislative positions and other local government offices.
Unlike presidential elections, which determine who occupies the White House, midterm elections provide voters with an opportunity to reshape the political balance in Congress and state governments while the president remains in office.
The results are traditionally regarded as an important measure of the sitting president’s political standing, as voters decide whether to retain or change the party control of key legislative and executive positions.
For political parties, the outcome can determine the extent of their influence over legislation, government spending, oversight of federal institutions and the implementation of campaign promises.
The 2026 elections therefore carried significance beyond the individual contests, with the Democratic Party recording gains in the national legislative contest, according to reports on the results.
For Nigerian-Americans, the victories of Jawando, Ezeonu, Owolewa, Kazeem, Adeyina and Okoye further demonstrate their growing participation in the American political process.
Their electoral successes also illustrate the different routes through which people of Nigerian descent are building political careers in the United States, from local government councils to state legislatures and executive offices.
While some, such as Jawando, have moved from local legislative responsibilities to executive leadership, others, including Ezeonu, have progressed from municipal politics to state-level representation.
The victories also follow the successes recorded by eight Nigerian-Americans in the 2022 midterm elections, suggesting a continuing presence of Nigerians and their descendants in America’s political institutions.
With six politicians of Nigerian descent now confirmed among the winners, the 2026 midterm elections have provided another notable chapter in the political participation of the Nigerian diaspora in the United States.
