The conservative movement took a sharp blow to the head in Colorado Springs as voters rejected the Republican candidate for a mayoral candidate who refused to disclose his political ideology.
Yemi Mobolade won with 67,442 votes over Republican Wayne Williams who received 49,909 votes.
BREAKING: In another MAJOR LOSS for Republicans, the Democratic-aligned independent candidate Yemi Mobolade has DEFEATED Republican Wayne Williams in the Colorado Springs mayoral runoff election.
This is the second big flip away from the Republican Party tonight.
Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/MUmxttkXCU
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 17, 2023
The Colorado Sun described Mobolade’s decisive victory of 57% to 43% as a political earthquake in the Springs, an established conservative stronghold.
Just a few years ago it would be hard to imagine someone other than a Republican leading the city. But cracks in Colorado Springs’ GOP streak have shown in recent years. In the November election, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis came within 4 percentage points of his GOP challenger, University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl, in El Paso County. Several Democrats won state legislative seats in and around the city.
Just a few months ago it would be hard to imagine Gov. Polis excitedly congratulating the winner of a Colorado Springs election, the home stomping ground of the state’s new Republican Party chairman.
And yet, here we are.
Governor Polis congratulated Mayor-elect Yemi Mobolade and thanked Coloradans in the community for voting and participating in democracy.
“Thank you to every Colorado Springs resident who voted. Congratulations to Mayor-elect Yemi Mobolade on his victory and I look forward to working with the Mayor-elect to help save people money in Colorado Springs, make Colorado one of the ten safest states, and move Colorado Springs forward,” said Governor Polis.
BREAKING: Nigerian-American Yemi Mobolade Makes History as Colorado Springs’ First Elected Black Mayor, Breaking a 45-Year Streak Unaffiliated with the Republican Party https://t.co/WR5nwLGwis via @simonateba pic.twitter.com/t312GCXHEJ
— TODAY NEWS AFRICA (@todaynewsafrica) May 17, 2023
PeakNation™ will recall we reported, repeatedly, that the man who refused to divulge his political leanings, often sounded like a socialist at worst, or a progressive at … not as worst but not much better.
A West African immigrant and progressive, Yemi Mobolade, has been elected mayor of historically arch-conservative Colorado Springs. #copolitics https://t.co/3rJUkHkyP6
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) May 17, 2023
Or as Colorado Politics now calls it, the center.
colo_politics: Yemi Mobolade didn’t just beat Wayne Williams by double digits in the city’s mayoral runoff — the Nigerian immigrant upended the board in a once reliably right-leaning city that has been moving toward the center in recent elections. (via @… https://t.co/97cTuBAlmk
— Luige del Puerto (@ldelpuerto) May 17, 2023
The media didn’t really care about Mobolade’s political background — so long as it wasn’t Republican.
All they cared about was the color of his skin.
And so yes, Mobolade did strike an historical win as the first Black mayor in a town that is less than 8% black.
But is that really going to be sole value upon which voters will determine the effectiveness of a political candidate, and soon-to-be mayor?
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. dream was that his children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
As such, political candidates really should be judged on their political ideology and not the color of their skin.
Stay tuned.