Michelle Wu has been elected mayor of Boston, Aftab Pureval has been elected mayor of Cincinnati, and Eric Adams has been elected mayor of New York.

Josh Reynolds, John Minchillo and Frank Franklin II/AP

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Josh Reynolds, John Minchillo and Frank Franklin II/AP

Michelle Wu has been elected mayor of Boston, Aftab Pureval has been elected mayor of Cincinnati, and Eric Adams has been elected mayor of New York.

Josh Reynolds, John Minchillo and Frank Franklin II/AP

People of color made history on election night in 2021, bringing diversity to leadership roles in some of America’s biggest cities, and in some states as well.

In Boston and New York, in Dearborn and Pittsburgh, a majority of voters embraced minority candidates.

Here’s a rundown of some of the most high-profile wins — a list that we’ll be updating as results continue to be come in:

Michelle Wu is the first woman and person of color to be elected Boston’s mayor

The city councilor and daughter of Taiwanese immigrants broke Boston’s 199-year streak of white, male city leaders. She defeated fellow Democratic City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, a self-described first-generation Arab-Polish American.

As NPR’s Vanessa Romo reports, “For many, the race came down to competing visions of the future with Essaibi George’s version cast as more of the old guard and Wu’s perceived as new-school Boston.” Here are some of Wu’s priorities.

Winsome Sears will be the first Black woman to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor

It’s the highest office a woman of color has won so far in Virginia’s history. Sears, a Republican, won a race that highlighted diversity: her Democratic opponent, Hala Ayala, comes from a family with Salvadoran, Irish, Lebanese and North African heritage.

“Just 10 Black women in the U.S. have ever held statewide office,” member station WAMU reports.

“What you are looking at is the American dream,” Sears, a pro-Trump former Marine, said, according to WAMU. “I didn’t run to make history. I ran to leave it better than I found it … Help is on the way.”

Eric Adams becomes the second Black man to lead New York City in its history

New Yorkers chose Democrat Eric Adams, a former police department captain, as the city’s second Black mayor, in a landslide win.

Adams, a former state senator who is currently the Brooklyn borough president, takes over from Bill de Blasio, whose second term was mired in the pandemic and economic turbulence including historic job losses, skyrocketing housing prices and rental rates, and extreme income inequality.

Adams branded himself as the blue-collar candidate. He made combating gun violence and improving public safety a main focus of his campaign, while also calling for cuts to the NYPD’s budget and shifting some jobs to civilians that have been done by officers. More on the race here.

Cincinnati elects Aftab Pureval, its first Asian American mayor

The 39-year-old Democrat started his political career six years ago as an outsider, member station WVXU reports, and last night he defeated 82-year-old opponent David Mann, “a longtime pillar of Cincinnati City Hall.”

The son of immigrants from India, Pureval earned his law degree and worked for Procter & Gamble before running successfully for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in 2016.

He is the fourth person to be elected under the direct election of the mayor system, in a race that saw remarkably low turnout at 24%. WVXU has more on Pureval here.

Abdullah Hammoud becomes the first Arab-American and Muslim mayor of Dearborn, Michigan

The Detroit suburb boasts one of the largest Arab communities in the U.S., but that had never been reflected in the city’s highest office. Hammoud, the son of Lebanese immigrants, dedicated his victory speech Tuesday night to “any young girls or boys who have been ridiculed for their faith or ethnicity.” The Democratic state representative defeated his opponent, longtime Michigan politician Gary Woronchak.