NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Shaundelle Brooks, the mother of a man killed in the 2018 Waffle House shooting, has won her bid for the State House.
The final votes were counted on Nov. 6, showing Brooks winning 54% of the vote, with Chad Bobo at 46%. A total of 30,936 votes were cast.
Brooks announced her candidacy for the District 60 seat in February.
The Donelson area seat was previously held by longtime Nashville Democrat Darren Jernigan, who retired from state politics to take a position with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office.
Brooks fought for the seat against Republican Bobo.
Early unofficial results had Brooks ahead by several thousand votes from the early voting totals alone. Early votes had Brooks up 55.4% to Bobo’s 44.7%.
Brooks’s son, Akilah DaSilva, was one of the victims of the deadly Waffle House shooting in Antioch. He was at the restaurant with his brother, Abede DaSilva, when he was shot and killed.
Since her son was killed, Brooks has been calling for change but said she hasn’t seen meaningful progress on the issue.
“I’ve been begging and pleading for six years for change, and I just feel like I need to be a change I need to see,” Brooks told NewsNation affiliate WKRN in February. “I am running for the other parents whose children didn’t come back home, for our children who deserve to be safe in schools, in stores, movie theaters, parks, and restaurants.”
