SALT LAKE CITY — The Episcopal Church on Saturday elected its first African-American presiding bishop during the denomination’s national assembly.

Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina was elected in a vote by bishops at the Episcopal General Convention, the top legislative body of the church. Bishop Curry won among the bishops in a landslide, earning 121 votes. The other three candidates had 21 votes or less. The decision was affirmed on a vote of 800-12 by the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay participants at the meeting.

Bishop Curry will succeed Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who will complete her nine-year term on Nov. 1. She was the first female presiding bishop and the first woman to lead an Anglican national church. The New York-based Episcopal Church is the United States body of the Anglican Communion, a worldwide fellowship of churches with 80 million members and with roots in the Church of England.

Bishop Curry, 62, has been bishop of North Carolina since 2000, leading a diocese of 48,000 church members, 112 congregations and a network of ministries. He will now lead a nearly 1.9 million-member sect known for its history as the faith home of many of the nation’s Founding Fathers and presidents.