Educator upsets veteran Democratic lawmaker in Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE — An educator who pulled off a major upset when she defeated a longtime incumbent lawmaker in the Democratic primaries will become one of only two black women in Wisconsin’s state Assembly — a feat she attributes to long days knocking on voters’ doors.
LaKeshia Myers, 34, beat state Rep. Fred Kessler by 23 percentage points in the 12th Assembly District, and since she’ll be unopposed in November the seat is hers. Kessler, 78, had held the seat for 14 years after prior stints in the Legislature in the 1960s.
Before Myers, no one had posed a serious challenge to Kessler, a white lawmaker who had been representing a majority black district on Milwaukee’s northwest side. But the district’s demographics — and the way the seat was drawn nearly a decade ago — presented a perfect opportunity for a minority candidate to beat Kessler. African-Americans are 55 percent of the district’s population
“I think the district made their voices clear with, it’s time for us to cash in on that seat by having someone, a person of color, represent us in this district,” Myers said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Read more: http://www.leadertelegram.com/News/Daily-Updates/2018/08/16/div-class-libPageBodyLinebreak-Educator-upsets-veteran-lawmaker-div.html
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