Young Politicians With African Roots Make History in US Midterms

At a Democratic victory rally after the US midterms, Abdul El-Sayed greeted Vice-President JD Vance with a line few in the crowd expected: "habibi," Arabic for "my love." Vance had campaigned against him, yet in January he will be the one swearing El-Sayed in as Michigan's new Senator.

El-Sayed is 42, US-born, and the son of Egyptian immigrants. He spent much of his campaign fending off attacks from conservative media and President Donald Trump, who accused him of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed rejected the allegations. At the rally he answered in an Egyptian Arabic accent, giving his full name, Abdul Rahman Mohammed El-Sayed, a name many opponents had made a target. He is set to become the first Muslim senator.

His campaign was social media-first, built on TikTok edits that showed him speaking directly to young voters, playing to Gen Z humour and wearing friendship bracelets. A former public health administrator, he ran on Medicare for All, affordable housing and curbing corporate influence in politics, and he has been a vocal critic of US military aid to Israel.

He was not the only winner with African roots in the midterms, which are held halfway through a president's four-year term and decide who represents Americans in Congress and in thousands of state and local offices. At 29, Melat Kiros became the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress. Born in Ethiopia, she arrived in the US as a baby and grew up in Denver. She had never held elected office before she beat a 15-term incumbent in the Democratic primary in Colorado's 1st District, then won Tuesday's general election in a landslide.

Kiros campaigned on the cost of living, universal childcare and Medicare for All. Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, she has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ending US military aid to Israel. Her criticism of Israel's war in Gaza has drawn controversy; she says it is aimed at the Israeli state, not Jewish people. In 2023 a top New York law firm fired her after she refused to take down an open letter to dozens of law firms that had urged law school deans to crack down on antisemitism on campuses amid pro-Palestinian protests. She condemned antisemitism but warned against conflating it with the geopolitical question of Israel's legitimacy, and says the firing pushed her to think more seriously about politics.

Adrian Boafo, 32, a second-generation Ghanaian-American, will represent Maryland's 5th District, succeeding Steny Hoyer, who retired after more than four decades in politics. Born in Virginia and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland, to parents who immigrated from Ghana, Boafo served on the Bowie City Council, became a state delegate in 2023, and once worked for Hoyer. He campaigned on the cost of living, childcare and protecting federal workers, a pressing issue in a district near Washington DC. In his victory statement he said representing his constituents had "never felt more urgent," citing federal job cuts, rising costs and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Ilhan Omar, 44, who was born in Somalia, won a fifth term despite an ongoing federal investigation. Federal agents searched her Washington home in October as part of an inquiry into her immigration paperwork. She denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. First elected in 2018, she was the first Somali-American, and among the first Muslim women, to serve in Congress. Trump has repeatedly criticised her and other Somali immigrants, and has used derogatory language about some African countries, including Somalia. In October, his Yemeni-born adviser Amer Ghalib said the president would refrain from such language.

Others broke through at state level. Junior Ezeonu, born in Nigeria, became Grand Prairie's youngest city council member by 27 and has now won a seat in the Texas State House. Carol Kazeem, 34, of Nigerian heritage, kept her Pennsylvania legislative seat in District 159. At least four candidates of Nigerian heritage won on 3 November.

The results are being watched across the Atlantic. On social media, particularly in Nigeria and Kenya, users have shared them as inspiration. Both countries hold major elections in 2027, and some young Africans see in these wins a hint of what a new generation of voters might do at home.