In her lifetime, India Walton has been a 14-year-old working mother, a nurse, a union representative and a socialist community organizer.
On Wednesday, she was on the cusp of yet another career change and a series of “firsts” after defeating a four-term incumbent in the Democratic primary race to become the mayor of Buffalo, New York state’s second largest city.
With no Republican challengers in the general election later this year, Walton is all but guaranteed to ascend to the mayoralty in solidly Democratic Buffalo.
She would not only become the city’s first female mayor but also the first self-declared socialist to lead a major US city in decades.
Walton would be the first socialist mayor of a major American city since 1960, when Frank Zeidler stepped down as Milwaukee’s mayor, the New York Times reported.
“This victory is ours. It is the first of many,” Walton said, adding: “If you are in an elected office right now, you are being put on notice: we are coming.”
Source: The Guardian
