Image: Representative Gabe Amo. Source: gabeamo.com

Representative Gabe Amo became the first son of West African Immigrants to win the House of Representative in Rhode Island’s special congressional election on November 7. Congressman Amo’s parents are both Ghanian and a Liberian. 

The 35-year-old Democrat defeated Republican Gerry Leonard in a run for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional Distrist. Before running for Congress, Amo worked in the Biden Admiration as the deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. This was after working on several Democratic pollical campaigns during the Obama Administration and Rhode Island governor Gina Raimond’s government  

Congressman Amo who was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is the first Black to be elected to the US House of Representative in Rhode Island. His father, Gabriel Amo owns a liquor store and his mother, Weady Socree, earned her nursing degree from the Rhode Island Community College in 1992 when Amo was just 4 years old. Amo won 65% of the vote in a special election to fill the seat left by the resignation of Democratic Congressman David Cicilline.

According to the Providence Journal, in his swearing-in speech at the state capital, Amo is quoted as saying, “…while we have not arrived at our final destination in this project of our democracy, I am optimistic. As Rhode Islander, it’s easy for me. After all, our state motto is ‘Hope’. It is hope that led my parents to come from West Africa – my dad from Ghana, and my mom from Liberia – to pursue opportunity in the greatest country of the world”.

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