Newark Elects First New Mayor in 2 Decades

Cory Booker, mayoral candidate in Newark, N.J., smiles during a news conference in Newark, Monday, May 8, 2006. Booker ran against Newark Mayor Sharpe James four years ago but James decided not to seek a sixth term. Booker is running against state Sen. Ron Rice in the mayoral election Tuesday, May 9. (AP Photo/Mike Derer) (Mike Derer - AP)

NEWARK, N.J. -- Cory Booker, a 37-year-old former Rhodes scholar, became Newark's first new mayor in two decades by a landslide Tuesday, ushering in a new era for the struggling city.

Booker swamped his nearest challenger, state Sen. Ronald L. Rice, taking 72 percent of the vote compared with 24 percent for the lawmaker in the nonpartisan election.

Booker, a Democrat, called his victory a mandate. He takes office July 1

"I'm very excited by the results and encouraged by what the people of Newark said today," he said after a victory party.

Booker's resounding win marks a generational change of black leadership in a city trying to turn around decades of urban decay. .

"Cory has been handed the awesome responsibility of fulfilling Newark's potential," said Walter Fields, a former political director for the New Jersey NAACP.

Mayor Sharpe James, 70, announced in March that he would not seek a sixth term.

Booker, a former city councilman, lost to James in 2002, falling 3,500 votes short out of about 56,000 cast in a nasty race chronicled in the Oscar-nominated documentary film "Street Fight."

Earlier Tuesday, after casting his vote, Booker, a Yale Law School graduate and former Stanford University football player, said he wasn't expecting a landslide victory: "We'll be happy just to win this election. If we win by 5 percent, it's a significant victory."

By rejecting Rice, a longtime Newark politician endorsed by James, voters also rejected James' legacy, said Clement Alexander Price, a history professor at the Newark campus of Rutgers University.

"Over the last two or three years, he (James) lost some of his energy and appeal," Price said. "What you're going to see is a much more younger, dynamic leader in Cory Booker."

Booker mentioned James at the victory party, asking supporters to give him their respect.

Both Booker and James are black. But during the 2002 election, James' supporters criticized the light-skinned Booker as not sufficiently black. Some of that bitterness remained on Tuesday, as reflected by anti-Booker signs urging people to "vote black."

"Don't waste your vote on folks who will not and cannot represent you!" said the signs, which were posted on utility poles.

The Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, called Tuesday's election a great one for Newark, which still struggles with poverty and gang violence.

"Newark has the chance to turn the page and begin writing another chapter," he said.

During his 20 years in office, James oversaw a building boom downtown, but the renaissance has yet to reach other parts of the city that are blighted and drug-infested.

"Newark needs a change," said Ellie Morton, a retired postal worker. "Cory Booker is young and he'll bring in a change."