Yemi Mobolade, a small business administrator and immigrant from Nigeria, has made history in the United States of America by becoming the first-ever non-Republican mayor elected in Colorado Springs.
He is also the first Black man elected to lead the city.
Colorado Springs had been predominantly Republican for a long time.
Monbolade ran as an independent, but he is known to be aligned with the Democratic Party.
According to the first batch of numbers, Mobolade had a more than 17,000 vote lead on Republican Wayne Williams, who took to the podium to announce he was conceding to Mobolade on Tuesday, May 16.
“Wow. This is our win. We are Colorado Springs. It’s a new day in our beloved city,” Mobolade said in reaction to his victory.
Mobolade, a married father of three, moved to Colorado Springs in 2010 and quickly became a leader in the business community.
He co-founded two popular restaurants – The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House – in Colorado’s second-largest city and was its small business development administrator.
He was also the vice president of business retention and expansion for the Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation.
Mobolade has advocated for small businesses in the public sector in Colorado Springs.
He said he sees this role as an opportunity to “restore public trust in local government.”
His campaign’s primary pillar was building more housing and making Colorado Springs more affordable.
Mobolade will succeed Mayor John Suthers, a former federal prosecutor, and Colorado attorney general who was term-limited, to become the city’s 42nd mayor.
