It took just four words for Yusuf Salaam to sum up Tuesday’s primary runoff results.

“It’s a new day,” an exultant Salaam declared during a post-election celebration at a Dallas Avenue restaurant. “The reverberations of this outcome will be felt for years to come throughout Selma, Dallas County and the entire Black Belt.”

Salaam defeated LaTosha Brown by the narrowest of margins in the Democratic primary runoff for the state House of Representatives District 67 seat. Unofficial returns showed Salaam with 4,955 or 51 percent of the vote to Brown’s 4,815 or 49 percent – a difference of only 140 votes.

Brown had been the front-runner in the June 4 primary.

“I’m amazed, but not surprised,” Salaam said of the turnaround in their relative positions. “It feels wonderful, but it’s a wonder tempered with a sense of humility and great gratitude to the voters of Dallas County.”

He credited his campaign staff for running what he termed “a strong race” since the June 4 primary. He also applauded Brown’s conduct throughout the primary, saying, “My opponent ran an outstanding race and demonstrated a lot of political ingenuity – very creative, very creative.”

Salaam said his immediate plans are to “run, run and run” from now until the election in November. “That’s just my style,” he added. “I also plan to become a serious student of state government.”

He said that, if elected, one of his first priorities would be to establish “proper legislative relationships” with other state and local elected officials throughout his district.

“I think that’s going to be my strongest suit,” he said. “We must work cooperatively.”

Salaam would have to be considered the overwhelming favorite in the heavily Democratic Black Belt to beat Republican Mark Story in the November election. If he does, he will become the first Muslim to be elected to the Legislature. But he downplayed the significance of that historic first.

Said Salaam, “I would like to see myself as a third-generation Alabamian and a decent human being who happens to be Muslim – just as the majority of voters in Dallas County happen to be Christian.”

Story said he plans to take his case – and the case for voting Republican – to the voters between now and November.

Of the more than 12,000 Dallas County voters who went to the polls June 4, fewer than 700 voted Republican. Story said that as long as voters in the Black Belt continue to put all their political eggs in one basket, the area will continue to be under served politically.

“When that happens,” Story said, “the community is taken for granted by both parties.”