Bernice Mireku-North has been re-elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, while fellow Democrat Abena Affum-McAllister has won a seat for the first time in Tuesday, November 3’s US elections.
Unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections show Mireku-North received 32,400 votes, or 31.58 per cent, in District 14 in Montgomery County. Affum-McAllister secured 37,458 votes, representing 27.25 per cent, to finish second among five candidates in District 28 in Charles County.
Their victories came in the same US midterm elections in which Adrian Boafo, another second-generation Ghanaian-American Democrat and former District 23 state delegate, won Maryland’s 5th Congressional District seat in the US House of Representatives.
District 14 elects three delegates. Mireku-North won a full four-year term alongside fellow Democrats Anne R. Kaiser and Matt Post.
The daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, Mireku-North says in her official campaign biography that she grew up in the Summit Hills Apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland. She also remains closely connected to family in Ghana, the United States, Mexico and Europe.
She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003 and earned her law degree from Howard University School of Law in 2006. Mireku-North spent six years as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Anne Arundel County and is now Managing Attorney of The North Law Group, LLC.
Mireku-North was first appointed to the House of Delegates in January 2023. She serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and campaigned on expanding early childhood education and access to child care, strengthening local revenues and reforming public safety.
Affum-McAllister wins first term
Affum-McAllister was elected in District 28 alongside Democratic incumbents Debra Davis and Edith J. Patterson. The three Democrats defeated Republican challengers James Emerson Ashburn and Winfield W. Clark Jr.
Ghanaian media have described Affum-McAllister as Ghanaian-American, although her campaign website does not mention Ghana and 3News has not independently confirmed her family’s links.
She completed her bachelor’s degree at Nyack College in 2007 before earning a law degree from the University of the District of Columbia in 2013.
Affum-McAllister previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Democratic Party. She is also Director of Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives for the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Her campaign focused on youth mentorship and early intervention programmes, criminal justice reform and funding for public schools.
