These Black candidates are aiming to make Black history in 2022 midterm elections

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February 15, 2022

By April Ryan, TheGrio

TheGrio takes a look at some of the races to watch this election cycle in Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

(From Left to Right) Malcolm Kenyatta in Philadelphia, PA, on November 1, 2019. (Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Rep. Anthony G. Brown in the Capitol Wednesday July 18, 2018. (Photo By Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call) Cheri Beasley in Durham, North Carolina on July 7, 2021. (Photo by Allison Lee Isley for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Lee Merritt on June 4, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

The 2022 midterm elections are officially underway as early voting kicked off in Texas on Monday. This year’s statewide contests are sure to be closely watched, but at theGrio we’re particularly paying attention to elections that stand to make Black history if successful..

In the Lone Star State, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt is banking on a win for Texas attorney general when all the votes are counted this November. Merritt has become a familiar face and voice in the fight for civil rights, police accountability and anti-vigilantism. He has garnered the ear of President Joe Biden and administration officials along with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. So much so that he has been instrumental in outside recommendations on how the White House should address police reform, including expected executive orders from Biden after the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act failed to pass in Congress.

Cheri Beasley of North Carolina is stumping for votes hopeful to become that Black woman in the United States Senate from the now purple state of North Carolina. If successful, it would not only bring Black women representation back to the Senate, but would be the first Black woman elected to the chamber in the state’s history.

Another election candidate vying to make history this election cycle is U.S. Congressman Anthony Brown who is hoping to leave his Maryland Congressional seat to “make a much bigger impact in the lives of Marylanders” as the state’s attorney general. There has never been an African American elected to that office.

Meanwhile, another midterm election that stands to make history is the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania. Malcolm Kenyatta, 31, is vying to be elected as the nation’s first openly gay Black United States Senator.

Read the full article here.

Learn about the work it took to get to point where these candidates can legally run here.

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