(Wikimedia Commons)

Civil rights advocates suggested that racism played a role in the opposition to Debo Adgebile, the son of a Nigerian father and an Irish mother. 

But the opposition pointed to his past legal representation of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted cop-killer in Philadelphia, as the reason why he should not gain the nomination.

The vote was still close, at 47-52. It was expected to pass with a narrow margin, but seven Democrats voted against it. 

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