Kentucky Voters Elect Black Woman to State Legislature for First Time in Nearly 20 Years

Voters in Kentucky have made history with the help of one deserving African-American politician.

Attica Scott is set to become the state’s first Black woman in 20 years to join the Kentucky legislature after her recent victory in the Democratic primary election for Kentucky’s 41st house District, according to NBC News. After her last standing Democratic opponent officially called her to concede and with no Republican candidate in sight to challenge Attica’s win, the position is all but hers. She took to her personal Twitter account on Tuesday evening with a celebratory message for voters.

Representative Riner just called to concede. Thank you to every single one of you who believed that we could do it. Great job, folks!

— Attica Scott (@atticascott) May 18, 2016

Attica also spoke with NBCBLK shortly after news broke of her historic accomplishment to share what the victory meant to her. “It feels amazing to be the first Black women in almost two decades to be elected to the legislature in Frankfort — that’s huge. I’m representing a district that is 50 percent Black and 50 percent white so that says that people across the district regardless of race believed in my leadership and also knew it was time for a new voice and a fresh face,” she told the news outlet.
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The last African-American in the Kentucky state government was Rep. Eleanor Jordan, who served as Attica’s mentor throughout her campaign. “She supported my campaign and wrote a joint letter to the district letting everyone know that she supported me. That says a lot. She has been one of my political mentors and I appreciate the fact that she’s a Black women who actually ran for Congress. She didn’t win but she did run in 1999 and left the legislature in 2000,” Attica explained.
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Congratulations to Attica and the state of Kentucky on this amazing accomplishment.