Melesa Johnson, a 35-year-old Democrat, won her race against Republican Tracey Chappell, also a Black woman, to become the first-ever Black woman prosecutor in Jackson County, Kansas City, MO.
According to KCUR , the race between the two women focused heavily on crime in the mostly Democratic county, and Johnson won her race easily as she focused on aggressive prosecution and crime prevention.
Johnson replaces Jean Peters Baker, the incumbent who has held the office since 2011, Baker declined to seek another term. Johnson came up in Baker’s office as a young attorney.
Johnson will leave her post as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas’ director of public safety to take the position for which she was elected.
At her watch party on Nov. 5, Johnson said that she hoped her win would provide hope for little Black girls. Johnson won the election 57% to Chappell’s 43%.
“Today we showed that a little Black girl from the east side of Kansas City can become one of the top-ranking law enforcement officials in the entire county — that means something,” Johnson said. “That’s going to trickle over to people wanting to become police officers, prosecutors, sheriffs, probation officers, people where I come from. And that’s a good thing for the system in its entirety.”