I needed this last election. If you were like me, you’ve been depressed for a full year. Then a ray of sunshine parted the clouds.
In Hoboken a Sikh was elected mayor after a campaign in which anonymous flyers called him a terrorist.
In Manassas, Virginiia, Danica Roem, a transgender woman, beat a 26-year incumbent, even though the state Republican party called her morally degenerate. Her heavy metal band, Cab Ride Home, will be on hiatus while she serves in the legislature.
In Seattle, Jenny Durkan, a former U.S. attorney and former member of the Teamsters Union (so she’s a union sister of mine), was elected the first openly lesbian mayor of that city.
In Topeka, Kansas, Michelle De La Isla, homeless at 17, pregnant at 19, was elected mayor. Ms. De La Isla, who went to college at Wichita State University, ran Topeka’s Habitat for Humanity program. Topeka, as you might expect, has very few Latino voters.
Wilmot Collins, who settled in Helena, Montana, as a refugee from Liberia in 1994, is now the mayor of Helena. He has also been in the Naval Reserve for the past two decades.
There are times when I just love America. This past year shook my faith in my country, but this past election has been a restorative experience. I am proud again.
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