Young, Black leaders in Cincinnati, Oh.  and Jackson, Miss. secured meaningful victories in mayoral primary races this week. 

Yvette Simpson won 44.79 percent of the vote in the Cincinnati mayor primary election, beating out the incumbent John Cranley, who had 34.83 percent. Journal-News reports that Simpson is in her second term on city council and was projected to beat other competition to face off against Cranley in November.

“We are still out-raised, out-endorsed,” Simpson said. “So, anybody who cares about this race, let’s be clear: he’s an incumbent who has won races before. He’s not going to go easy.”

Meanwhile, Chokwe Antar Lumumba celebrated a victory in Jackson that many feel is a sign that he’ll be the next mayor of the deep-blue city, which is a position his late father held for eight months before his passing, according to The Clarion-Ledger.

Lumumba, who is currently a defense attorney, has no political experience but helped his father create some of the policies that got him elected. The success of this election is a different story than Lumumba’s last attempt in 2014. During that special election, he lost a runoff against current Mayor Tony Yarber.

“We get to help him understand how to manage those high expectations,” Yarber said.

After securing more than 55 percent of the vote, Lumumba doesn’t have to worry about a runoff anytime soon. All that lies in his way to the mayor’s office are his Republican, Independent ad Libertarian opponents on June 6.

Ever since he lost the 2014 runoff election, Lumumba has spent even more time invested in the local community and backing local organizations with aims to improve it. This, combined with Jackson’s heavily Democratic background, has political analysts drawing the conclusion that Lumamba will accomplish his goal of finishing the work his father didn’t get to.