If this post seems brazenly partisan, it’s because the subject is totally awesome.

Her name is Jahana Hayes. She was born into poverty in Waterbury CT; her mother was an addict; she was raised by her grandmother; the family lived in public housing. Her life was, by her own description, “illustrated by the predictable cycle of poverty.”

She got pregnant at age 17. But she persevered. She attended Naugatuck Valley Community College, and then got her bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State College. She then got advanced degrees from the University of St. Joseph and the University of Bridgeport.

She got her first teaching job in 2003, and then in 2005 she became a Social Studies teacher at JFK High School in her hometown, teaching World History, Roots of American Citizenship, U.S. History, Civics & Geography, and African American History.

And she was really good at it. Over her career she has received many honors for teaching excellence, and for steering her students to contribute to Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

On April 28, 2016, she was honored by the Council of Chief State School Officers with the award as National Teacher of the Year. A week later she was presented her award on National Teacher Day by President Obama. She was so visibly overjoyed that the President teased, “you just need to settle down.”

About 100 days ago, the sitting congresswoman from Hayes’ district, Rep. Elizabeth Etsy, declined to run for re-election. And so Jahana Hayes threw her hat into the ring. She was supported by her teacher’s union, the CT Working Family Party unions, and prominent national politicians like Kamala Harris. She raised a boatload of campaign financing.

And this past Tuesday, she became the Democratic nominee for Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District, defeating a more seasoned Mary Glassman, who had the party’s backing.

This coming November, she will face off in the general election against Republican Manny Santos, who has an interesting story of his own. He is an immigrant from Portugal who grew up in poverty in Hartford before becoming an engineer and serving in Operation Desert Storm.

If she wins, Jahana Hayes will become the first black congresswoman in state history.

In an interview this week, she said, “My mom struggled with addiction, my grandmother raised me, I was a teenage mom – all these things that traditionally would have caused people to disengage from their communities. I can say my community stood up and helped me rise out of that.”

(The state of Connecticut has a population of approximately 3.5 million people, of which about 2.8 million are of voting age. Slightly more than half are Women. About 12 percent are Black and about 16 percent are Hispanic. The state has 5 congressional seats. Currently 3 are held by Men and 2 by Women, which ratio has been largely consistent over the past 20 years. There has been only one Black congressperson in history; Gary Franks served from 1991 to 1997. There have been no Hispanic congresspersons.)