After 4 years of work, $6.1 million dollars in fund raising, and innumerable handshakes, Cory Booker has been elected Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He won 74% of the vote, Rice took 23%. Booker won by a margin of more than 3 to 1.
The ??Newark Star Ledger??’s ??Battle for Newark?? blog provides the “final election results”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139497.
Cory Booker swept to victory in the Newark mayor’s race by a historic margin today, collecting more than 70 percent of the vote from an electorate that rejected his candidacy four years ago.Booker’s closest challenger, state Sen. Ronald L. Rice, finished with less than 25 percent.
The election of Booker, a 37-year-old former Rhodes scholar and Yale-educated lawyer who moved to Newark just a decade ago, opens a new chapter in the city’s political history. A self-proclaimed reformer, he is Newark’s first new mayor in 20 years and just the second since 1970.
The ??New York Times??’ ??Newark 06?? blog is also reporting “that the Booker Era has begun”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=193.
And when Reginald T. Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers’ Council of New Jersey, was told of the results, he eschewed the neutrality he has maintained since 2002.
“That’s terrific,” he said.
“It’s a new era for Newark,” he continued. “I think it brings the possibility of Newark really becoming the city it can be. And it’s my hope now that with the election over, all the factions can come together and unite work in the best interests of the city and the citizens of Newark.”
All in all, here are the final results of tonight’s election–congratulations to the winners:
* *Mayor:* Cory Booker
* *Central Ward:* Dana Rone
* *North Ward:* Anibal Ramos
* *South Ward:* _Runoff!_ John James/Oscar James decision on June 13
* *East Ward:* Agusto Amador
* *West Ward:* _Runoff!_ Mamie Bridgeforth/Ron Rice Jr. decision on June 13
* *At-large:* _Runoff!_ the top eight candidates will compete for the at-large seats on June 13
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[...] After Booker won the mayoral election on May 9th, I have to admit that my enthusiasm waned for the upcoming run-off election on June 13th. Booker took the election by storm, getting 70% of the vote, so I only assumed that the rest of his team competing for the at-large council positions would probably get into office without much trouble. If not, though, I didn’t think it was a big deal— Booker will just have a little resistance and diversity of opinion on his council. [...]