Ryan GrimVerified account

When Rep. Elizabeth Esty was caught up in a scandal over her failure to deal with an abusive staffer, she retired, throwing open the race to replace her. She represents Newtown, Connecticut and the surrounding area, which is highly affluent with pockets of concentrated poverty/2

On May 2, just two weeks before the nominating convention, @JahanaHayes jumped into the race to replace Esty. Mary Glassman was already in, and had statewide name ID and a ton of money in the bank. It wasn’t supposed to be close. /4

But @JahanaHayes came to win: The Berkeley Knights, a drumline from her old project less than 4 miles away, came out to show support. If Hayes wins, she will be the only Black man or woman serving in Congress from ALL of New England.https://twitter.com/CourantPhotogs/status/996145449580056576 …

At first, there weren’t going to be speeches, but somebody made a motion to hear the candidates, since Hayes was so new. A bunch of delegates fought that, but lost. Then they drew straws to see who’d get to go last, and Hayes won that. Some delegates demanded a re-draw! /6

After the speeches, on the first ballot, nobody got 50%, so it went to a second a second ballot after the third-place finisher, @MannySanchezCT, dropped out… /7