Voters in two Pennsylvania cities have elected their first black mayors.

In Harrisburg, voters gave the nod to Democrat Linda Thompson, the Harrisburg City Council president, over Republican challenger Nevin Mindlin. It's the first time in 27 years that Pennsylvania's state capitol has a new mayor.

She will replace longtime Mayor Stephen Reed, whom she beat in the Democratic primary. Harrisburg is heavily Democratic and is about 56 percent black.

Meanwhile, the election of Democrat Kim Bracey in York comes 40 years after violent race riots led to the death of a white police officer and a black woman. The killings in 1969 went unsolved for decades.

Bracey, the city's former director of community development, beat Republican Wendell Banks. Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2 to 1.

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