Donna Edwards won the special election tonight.

[mystieus]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/06/maryland_elects_1st_black_woma.php



Democratic lawyer and nonprofit executive Donna Edwards won a special election Tuesday to become Maryland's first black woman elected to Congress.

Edwards beat Republican Peter James in the race to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn's term in Maryland's 4th District. Wynn left office May 31 to take a lobbying job after losing to Edwards in February's Democratic primary by 22 percentage points.

Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.

Once she is sworn in, Democrats will have 236 seats in the House to Republicans' 199.

The victory also gives Edwards a chance to establish some seniority if she is elected to a full term. A half-year spent in the House could give her a slight edge over other incoming freshmen, such as better committee assignments.

Edwards most recently led the nonprofit Arca Foundation. Her win in February was her second try at the seat after losing to Wynn in 2006 by a slim margin.

With about 25 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Edwards had 93 percent of the vote, or 2,853 votes, to James' 6 percent, or 189.

[evlbstrd]

1. Wow!

That's one hell of a margin of victory. Good for Edwards and Congress.

[Hope And Change]

2. Yay....

[ccharles000]

3. ...

:hug:

[VolcanoJen]

4. Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so proud to support her, give her money. She's ActBlue's biggest success story, and she's going to rock the Congress!!!!

Mo' better Dems, starting with Donna!

[Kaleko]

5. Oh, good.

[TheDonkey]

6. good for her, and good for MD!

[Happyhippychick]

7. Awesome news! I live in MD and got some very obnoxious calls from her opponent last fall.

Yay!

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Great News... kick nominated N/t

[bigwillq]

9. YAY!

That's great news.

[BigDDem]

10. Terrific!!!

Congrats to her!!

[Overseas]

11. Congratulations !! Exciting !! /nt

[DangerousRhythm]

12. Wow, awesome news!

:dem:

[panAmerican]

13. K&R! So proud of you, Ms. Edwards!

:applause:

[opihimoimoi]

14. The BLUEing of America continues to Stun the GOP into desperate Strats

[Alter Ego]

15. Ouch.

It's Maryland--traditionally blue--but still.

[Lady-Damai]

16. Wow.....

:bounce:

[Yael]

17. Awesome news and hopefully a harbinger of what to expect this fall!!!

[cascadiance]

18. And now Albert Wynn goes to work with DENNIS HASTERT at Dickstein Shapiro!

And help with all of those corrupt goings on between our government and Turkey now, which might even be covering up treasonous affairs as Sibel Edmonds points out about Israeli and Turkish lobbyist firms now that might be involved with black market nuclear secrets trades.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.congress16jun16,0,6484749.story

Kind of ironic that both of the newest Democrats elected in special elections are replacing those going to that corrupt lobbyist firm!

Good Riddance to Mr. Wynn with a capital G!!

[satya]

19. Thanks to those of you who made this happen!!! nt

[Cha]

20. Congratulations Donna Edwards!

Take Back America, indeed! :bounce: :patriot: :kick: :party:

[LowerManhattanite]

21. Hot diggity-damn! Great news! n/t