Exonerated 'Central Park Five' member Yusef Salaam wins unopposed New York City Council seat

The exonerated "Central Park Five" member Yusef Salaam won his election to an unopposed seat to represent Harlem in the New York City Council more than two decades after his conviction was overturned.

He won the seat Tuesday after overwhelmingly winning the Democratic primary in June. 

Salaam spent nearly seven years in prison after being arrested at the age of 15 alongside four other minority men in 1989 in connection to the brutal beating and rape of a woman jogging in Central Park. Convicted murderer and rapist Matias Reyes later confessed to the attack.

"For me, this means that we can really become our ancestors’ wildest dreams," Salaam said before the election, according to The Associated Press.

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