A Stunner: Pressley Topples Capuano In Nationally Watched 7th District Race
Ayanna Pressley makes addresses supporters celebrating her primary win. Photo by Robin Lubbock for WBUR
There is a changing of the guard in the 7th Congressional District, with shockwaves sure to reverberate throughout the Democratic Party.
Ayanna Pressley, the first woman of color elected to the Boston City Council and a self-described candidate of change, easily toppled U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, a 10-term incumbent, in an intra-party tussle that garnered national attention on Tuesday.
With no Republican opponent, Pressley is set to become the first black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress.
Pressley campaigned on the slogan “change can’t wait,” casting herself as a movement-building candidate. The daughter of a single mother and a father who was in and out of prison, she said she could better represent the state’s only majority-minority district, which includes most of Boston and several of its surrounding communities.
“It seems like change is on the way,” Pressley said in her celebratory speech.