Oye Owolewa is a pharmacist and Democratic politician who has made history as the first Nigerian-American elected to district-wide office in Washington, DC. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1989 to parents from Kwara and Osun States. He graduated from Boston Latin School in 2008 and earned a doctorate in pharmacy from Northeastern University in 2014.
He began his career at a Rite Aid on U Street, where he witnessed the overdose crisis and unequal access to health care affecting Black communities. His entry into politics came through a grassroots victory as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Ward 8, winning by a single vote.
In 2020, he was elected as DC’s Shadow Representative, a role focused on advocating for DC statehood and voting rights in Congress. He was re-elected twice and secured 82.84 per cent of the vote in 2024.
During his tenure, Owolewa administered some of DC’s first COVID-19 vaccines, launched expungement clinics that served more than 600 residents and spent six years lobbying on Capitol Hill for DC statehood. He also advocated consistently for seniors and better access to health care.
In 2026, he won an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia, moving his community-first approach from federal advocacy to local governance. He announced that he would not seek re-election as Shadow Representative, stating that being in office “should be an opportunity, not a career”.
