Kenyatta Stewart, a criminal defense attorney and Newark Corporation Counsel under Mayor Ras Baraka, is expected to enter the race for the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the 35th district next week, InsiderNJ reported on Tuesday evening.
In a primary with no county organization line, Stewart would face incumbent Al Abdelaziz (D-Paterson) and Passaic County Commissioner Orlando Cruz. Cruz announced his Assembly bid today, soon after seven-term Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson) made a surprise announcement that she would not seek re-election this year.
Abdelaziz is the first Palestinian American to serve in the New Jersey Legislature, and Cruz, who reportedly has the backing of Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie, is seeking to add balance to a ticket in a district that is 53% Hispanic.
In 2015, Stewart helped broker a truce between rival gangs in Paterson following the murder of Armoni Sexton, a highly-rated fifteen-year-old basketball prospect.
A criminal defense attorney, Stewart had also served as counsel to the Irvington Board of Education and the East Orange Housing Authority. He was named to the New Jersey Amistad Commission in 2018.
Stewart had flirted with running for mayor in 2018 in a race ultimately won by Andre Sayegh, then the Sixth Ward city councilman.
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