Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that despite a crowded field for the 2025 gubernatorial election, his entrance to the race will leave an impression — in part because of his legacy as an unabashed progressive who’s led Newark through a decade of resurgence.
Baraka announced his run for the Democratic nomination for governor Monday in front of an electrified audience during a Black History Month event in Trenton. He sat down Thursday with NJ Spotlight News for his first TV interview since making the announcement.
“We fly in a storm in Newark every single day,” Baraka said. “I’ve been in a storm, and turbulence is what I wake up to, what I go to sleep to. So, at the end of the day, these issues that we’re fighting in Newark are state issues. And we have experience in not only facing them, but facing them down.”
