OPINION
What can we learn from Tuesday’s election in New Jersey? Trump’s win was a heartbreak, but the time for mourning has passed – it’s time to mount our defense.
Yes, Trump gained a few thousand more votes, but Kamala Harris lost half a million. Why? Because Democrats have neglected the communities and people who are the backbone of our party.
We spend more time and resources chasing votes from demographics that have shown they’re not with us, rather than investing in those who have consistently upheld our Democratic values. Not just investing in their vote, but investing in the people – their struggles, their needs, and their access to the middle class.
We have nearly one million more Democrats in this state. New Jersey should be a proving ground for bold, forward-thinking policy. We are the heartbeat of the northeast corridor—one of the greatest economic engines in the world. New Jersey has everything going for it except the political will.
We have to turn a page. We can’t keep going back to nominating the same old politicians backed by the same old special interest groups, corporate mega-donors, or single-issue organizations with big money. Every single election cycle sounds the same in New Jersey because our fundamental, structural issues never get addressed. The people clearly need change.
Property taxes, affordability, healthcare, public transportation, education. We keep hearing about these issues because we keep electing the same folks who claim they’re for working people but, when push comes to shove, side with a small subset of our state – the business class and special interest groups – not the majority of our people.
In New Jersey, and indeed in America, our poor and working class are the vast majority, and yet our policies and politics serve the wealthy and corporate interests over them every single day.
As we watch unions and party leaders already planting flags on different sides of the largest primary fight for Governor in recent memory, it’s important to know that only one person has lived his life serving core Democratic values of equity and justice: Newark Mayor, Ras J. Baraka.
In primaries, Democrats hear lip service from candidates who promise to be champions for working people, only to watch them assume office and immediately shed those values for centrist decisions. It breaks your heart.
Baraka, on the other hand, is the only candidate who has a history of governing by his core values. Other candidates may adopt these principles to win, but we need a Governor who upholds them because they are fundamental to who he is. In moments of real challenge, this distinction matters.
It matters because if you’re only for the working class when it suits you or your next position, history tells us that those values are cast aside in times of turbulence. And let’s be clear: in the coming years, we’ll face tough battles. Trump’s White House will bring new challenges on climate change, economic justice, public education, and healthcare.
It’s in those moments, where having someone true to their values matters the most. It’s in those rooms where we need a person whose unwavering focus is on what is best for all of us, not just the special few in the back.
Mayor Baraka is the only executive, Democrat or Republican, who has steadied a plane in free fall. Newark was in a $90 million hole when Baraka took the wheel with a lot of difficult decisions to make, and in the decade since, the city has transformed. Newark has seen a renaissance that’s been given national and international renown, with President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris both calling Newark, at different times, a model city.
With name recognition as high as anyone in the field, Baraka is still considered an underdog by the establishment. He’s not dismissed for an inability to lead or lack of bold, transformative ideas. No, the powers that be don’t think he can raise as much money as the rest of the candidates. It’s a drastic underestimation, not surprisingly, of our nation’s appetite for change.
For those of us feeling this overwhelming appetite for change, this is our chance to leave the special interests behind because there is one candidate in this race who is truly unbeholden to them. Baraka does not come from wealth, he comes from his community.
Like Tim Walz, he began as a public school teacher serving the people, not in backroom fundraisers. Baraka, as only teachers can, spent his days intimately learning the challenges and needs of his neighbors and then stood up to do something about it.
New Jersey, we have an opportunity to do something transformative. We can shake off an economy that serves the wealthy over the majority and recenter our state on the working people who define it. We can do this, but we have to commit to our Democratic values, not just talk the talk.
If you want to continue hearing the same talking points about the same issues year after year, go ahead and vote for the same old politicians we’ve always had in the Governor’s mansion. But if you’re tired of that, like I am, and want to see what New Jersey can truly be – the Garden State we all know is in there – then it’s time to support the only candidate who has actually walked the walk, Ras Baraka.
See here for a full list of endorsements in New Jersey’s 2025 gubernatorial contest.