Patrick Council was re-elected to a second term on the Newark City Council, keeping his South Ward seat in a runoff tonight against former school board member Asia Norton and securing a council majority for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Council leads Norton, 1,593 to 1,030, a margin of 61%-39%, with 100% of the vote counted.
A total of 2,177 vote-by-mail ballots from the South Ward were issued, and 528 (24%) have been counted so far. Council has a 296-232 lead over Norton among VBM voters. Newark does not use in-person early voting in municipal elections.
The South Ward race was the only runoff election today. The May 12 non-partisan municipal election produced eight clear winners.
Council led Norton, 2,256 to 1,125, a 46%-23% margin in a field of seven candidates. Council needed an additional 189 votes — 2,4445 – to get him to the 50% needed to avoid the runoff.
Wins last month by incumbents Louise Scott-Roundtree and Larry Crump (At-Large), and Dupre Kelly (West) and Amina Bey (Central) – and now Council – give Baraka the five allies he needs to move agenda items through the city council. The election of Donna Jackson, a Baraka critic, to an at-large council seat will make life more difficult for the mayor.
Norton is widely viewed as a rising star in Newark politics. She was a teacher and won two races for the school board before resigning to become a law clerk to Essex County Assignment Judge Sheila Venable.
The 54-year-old Council, the South Ward Democratic municipal chairman, is considered a potential candidate for mayor in 2030, when Baraka is expected to retire. Baraka won re-election to a fourth term last month by a wide margin.
He was first elected in 2022 after the incumbent, John Sharpe James, declined to seek re-election. Council led Terrance Bankston, 46%-18%, in a six-way race for the open seat, and won the runoff with 79%. |
Council will be sworn in to his second term on July 1.
This story was updated at 10:02 PM with final results.