Dr. Ann-Marie Adams, a Jamaican-American journalist, has been tapped by the Democratic Party to run for US Senator from the state of Connecticut in 2018. Adams said she was excited to run for this office, noting that no black immigrants hold office “from Canada to Miami,” except in New York or in Florida, and that few Jamaican Americans are even in politics. “There are none in Connecticut,” she said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. Adams said she hesitated to run at first because, as a journalist, she is used to covering politicians and not running for office, but after reviewing her credentials, she decided she has a good chance of winning. Adams was born and raised in Spanish Town and Kingston and attended St. John’s Primary. She moved to the United States following her graduation from St. Hugh’s High School for Girls and continued her education at Brooklyn College in Hartford, Connecticut. Although Adams emigrated from Jamaica years ago, she loves the country and visits there as often as possible, and she wanted to start her Senate campaign in Jamaica among the people she really knows. Adams emphasized that she received a sound education in Jamaica, particularly at St. John’s “where they put me into spelling bee, and speech festival, and Girl Guides-and all of that was a joyous experience.” Adams recognizes that she had a privileged upbringing and wants to “give back” somehow. She is encouraging more Jamaicans and people from the Caribbean to run for office in the US, stating that while Connecticut has the third-largest West Indian population in the country, its “congressional delegation is largely white and male. Now they’re looking to diversify that…hence people have recruited me,” she said.

Photo by Lisa Brisson