A Nigerian, Ms Esther Agbaje, has been elected into the Minnesota House of Representatives in Tuesday’s United States general elections.
Agbaje won by a landslide, scoring a total of 17,396 votes, which represents 74.7% of the total ballots cast.
Her closest rival, Alan Shilepsky, a nominee for the Republican Party, scored 4,126 votes, which represents 17.7% of the total votes cast.
She will represent District 59B in the 134-member House on the platform of the Democratic-Farmer-Labour Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party.
Elections to the lower chamber of the state legislature are held every two years, and there are no term limits for the lawmakers.
Abaje was born in St. Paul, the state capital of Minnesota, to Nigerian immigrant parents.
Her father, Rev. John, an Episcopal priest, met her mother, Bunmi, a librarian, at the University of Minnesota where they were studying.
She graduated from George Washington University, Washington D.C., with a degree in Political Science.
Earlier, another Nigerian, Oye Owolewa, who was a ‘shadow’ (non-voting) House of Representative member out of the District of Columbia, won his election.
The 31-year-old politician is the first Nigerian congressman in the country’s history.
