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2002 Newark mayoral election
Turnout	19.58%
Mayor before election; Sharpe James; Democratic	Elected mayor ; Sharpe James; Democratic

The 2002 election for Mayor of Newark took place in Newark, the most populous city in the state of New Jersey, on May 14, 2002. Elections for all seats on the nine-member Municipal Council of Newark were held the same day. A runoff election, if necessary, would have taken place. Elections in the city are non-partisan and candidates are not listed by political party. Incumbent Mayor and State Senator Sharpe James avoided a runoff and was re-elected to his fifth term in office. He was the first Newark mayor to be elected five times.^[1]

This campaign was the subject of the 2005 documentary Street Fight. Cory Booker, who had become a municipal council member in 1998,^[2] was elected Mayor of Newark in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. After having won the October 16 special election for U.S. senator he resigned as mayor and was sworn in on October 31, 2013 as the junior U.S. senator from New Jersey.^[3] He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, ending his campaign three weeks before the first nominating contest, the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.

Candidates

The deadline for candidates to file for election was April 14.

Declared

Cory Booker, Newark Municipal Councilman
Sharpe James, State Senator and incumbent Mayor of Newark
Dwayne Smith, businessman and former law enforcement officer

Though all elections are non-partisan, all candidates are registered Democrats and Newark is a heavily Democratic city.

Campaign

The election was noted for its acrimony and attacks by both candidates. James called Booker "a Republican who took money from the KKK [and] Taliban ... [who's] collaborating with the Jews to take over Newark".^[4]^[5] Booker focused on James's reputation for corruption.

One focus of the campaign was race. Booker, who is of mixed African and European ancestry and was raised in the wealthy suburbs, was accused of insufficient connection to the city's impoverished, majority-black voters.^[6]

Endorsements

Cory Booker

National elected officials

Bill Bradley, United States Senator from New Jersey
Floyd Flake, United States Representative from New York

Individuals

Arianna Huffington, publisher and businesswoman
Spike Lee, filmmaker
Cornel West, Princeton University professor

Newspapers

Sharpe James

National elected officials

Jon Corzine, United States Senator from New Jersey

State elected officials

Jim McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey

Individuals

Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and candidate for President in 1984 and 1988
Al Sharpton, civil rights leader and frequent candidate for public office from New York

Results

If no candidate received 50% of the vote, the race would have continued to a run-off between the top two candidates from the first round.

James received 52.95 percent of the total vote, securing re-election.

Results^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Sharpe James (incumbent)	28,363	52.9%
	Nonpartisan	Cory Booker	24,869	46.5%
	Nonpartisan	Dwayne Smith	339	0.6%
Total votes			53,571	100.00

References

^ Jacobs, Andrew (May 15, 2002). "THE NEWARK ELECTION: OVERVIEW; James Wins 5th Term in Newark as Challenger is Rebuffed". The New York Times.
^ Will, George F. (March 17, 2002). "Newark's Nasty Race" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
^ Lee, Eunace (October 30, 2013). "See Cory Booker's resignation letter as he bids farewell to Newark City Hall, goes to Washington". The Star-Ledger. nj.com. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
^ Arianna Huffington (April 30, 2002). "The madness of Newark's King James". Salon. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
^ Seth Mnookin (April 22, 2002). "The New Natural". New York.
^ Damien Cave (May 4, 2006). "In a Debate of Newark Mayoral Candidates, Some Agreement and a Lot of Discord". The New York Times.
^ "2002 NEWARK MAYORAL ELECTION RETURNS". politicsnj.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2003.

External links

Wharton, Jonathan L. (October 20, 2013). "The 2002 and 2006 Mayoral Elections". In Wharton, Jonathan L. (ed.). A Post-Racial Change is Gonna Come. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 37–62. doi:10.1057/9781137277725_3. ISBN 978-1-349-44733-6.
^[1]