Behold Democratic candidates, Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, the first openly gay black men elected to the US Congress.
Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, both of the Democratic Party have made history by becoming the first openly gay Black men elected to the US Congress.
The Afro-Latino, Ritchie Torres who is 32 years old won the House seat representing New York’s 15th congressional district on Tuesday.
While Mondaire Jones, 33, also won the seat representing the 17th congressional district encompassing Westchester and Rockland County, North of New York City.
Mr. Torres who won the seat when he was 25 years old is also the first openly gay elected official on the New York City Council.
Torres in a statement to CBS said, ‘Tonight, a new era begins for the South Bronx,’
‘It is the honor of a lifetime to represent a borough filled with essential workers who have risked their lives so that New York City could live.
‘The Bronx is essential, and the vibrant, loving and talented people who live here have shown time and again their power, fortune and perseverance.
It is the heartbeat of New York City.’
Torres continued: ‘We are at a crossroads in the Bronx and in our nation.
‘The scourge of COVID-19 has laid bare the inequalities that for too long have been allowed to fester in our communities.
‘The hit our neighborhoods have taken is stark, with a pandemic laid over an economic disaster with a recovery that helps only those at the top, not at the bottom.’
“Look, the triumph of an openly LGBTQ congressional candidate over a leading homophobic in state politics — that to me represents long-overdue poetic justice,” he said.
Also, Jones told CBS about the possibility of being one of the first two openly gay Black men elected to Congress after winning his primary.
“I’m happy to be providing that kind of representation for so many young people and older people all throughout my district
and all throughout this country who have reached out to me and said,
“It is a lot of responsibility,” he said.
‘I’m so inspired by what you’re doing.
You give me hope and I can be my authentic self in a world filled with so much injustice,’
and it’s really an honor to be able to do that.”
