Kesha Ram becomes first woman of color in Vermont Senate

[RandySF]

On Tuesday, Democrat Ram became the first woman of color elected to the Vermont Senate, placing her alongside five other state senators for the Chittenden County district.

Ram came in third in the six-seat Chittenden District with 46,504 votes, according to unofficial results posted on the Vermont Secretary of State election website. All six seats in the district were won by candidates backed by the Democratic Party or both the Democratic and Progressive parties.

For Ram, born to an Indian father and Jewish American mother, the push to get people of color into state office doesn't stop with her election.

"I want to turn around and help recruit the first Indigenous woman, the first Black woman," she said. "Many other firsts and seconds and onward so that we can have a robust conversation and no one is seen as monolithic."

The state has struggled with a lack of diversity in politics for some time.




https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2020/11/04/vermont-election-results-kesha-ram-elected-state-senate-first-woman-color/3716467001/

[greyl]

1. Good headline for including Kesha Ram's name. nt

[KitSileya]

2. Here's to hoping she's not driven out of politics by racism too

Vermont has a history of doing that.

[Celerity]

3. she started running for the Vermont House of Representatives at 21yo, elected at 22yo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesha_Ram

[KitSileya]

4. Yeah, I hope they've learned from how utterly abominable they behaved towards Kiah Morris

You know, Vermont's only Black female state representative, who was driven out of politics by relentless threats and vandalism during her re-election campaign. Vermont doesn't have a good track record with minority women representatives, so I hope Kesha Ram has a better experience.

[Celerity]

5. the more I learn about Vermont, the more of a racist state it seems

The A-A imprisonment rate, the white power groups, the racial attacks, their propensity to elect Rethugs far too often (they have one now for a governor), their gunhumper tendencies, etc

I like the ice cream, the maple syrup, and some of the elite microbreweries there (Hill Farmstead Brewery is arguably a top 3 brewery on the planet, and The Alchemist is world class as well), and it looks very idyllic

but hard pass on living there (I am a PoC)