Latinos elected to Yakima City Council

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Two Latinos have been elected to the Yakima City Council and a third was leading her opponent.

The Yakima Herald reports that prior to Tuesday, the city had never elected a Latino to the council.

Dulce Gutierrez and Avina Gutierrez easily defeated their opponents, while Carmen Mendez was leading in her race to join the seven-person council.

Tuesday’s elections were the first under a new district-based system ordered by a federal judge. The court order was the result of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington in which the judge determined Yakima’s previous elections system denied Latino’s electoral interests.