As much speculation as there was about Newark Mayor Ras Baraka running for governor, his announcement Monday, which electrified the audience at a Black History Month event in Trenton, took everyone by surprise, including, evidently, the campaign itself.
James Gee of Stono Public Affairs, a longtime fried and adviser of Baraka, and host of the event, said, “I think he got caught up in the excitement. That room was filled with people from Cape May to Trenton to Somerset and Plainfield and obviously a lot of Newark people. I think that they were giving him that energy.”
Baraka, a former school principal and city council member, joins a field for the Democratic nomination that already includes Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Senate President Steve Sweeney and will likely be joined by Congress members Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer.
