Sharpe James Archives - New Jersey Globe

Baraka’s fourth term comes with some asterisks

May 18, 2026 6:42 pmMay 18, 2026 11:57 pm

There was good news and bad news for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in last week’s non-partisan municipal election: he was re-elected by a wide margin, but not as impressively as his last two races; and he retains a council majority,...

Trailblazer: U.S. Senator Cory Booker

January 19, 2026 12:22 amJanuary 18, 2026 10:25 pm

Cory Booker is the first Black candidate to win statewide office in New Jersey. He was elected to the United States Senate in 2013, winning a special election to replace the late Frank R. Lautenberg. Booker sought the 2020 Democratic...

Trailblazer: Senator Ronald Rice

January 19, 2026 12:13 amJanuary 18, 2026 10:20 pm

An iconic Newark maverick whose boyhood in the South under Jim Crow laws shaped Ronald Rice’s lifelong mission as a fierce and unwavering advocate of social justice and racial equality. He was unwavering in his advocacy of the underprivileged and...

Trailblazer: Congressman Donald Payne Sr.

January 19, 2026 12:00 amJanuary 18, 2026 11:14 pm

Donald Payne, Sr. (1934-2012) was the first Black to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives. He had run for Congress twice before winning the seat in 1988. In 1970, Payne became the first African American to serve...

2025 New Jersey Globe Year in Review

December 31, 2025 3:25 pmJanuary 8, 2026 11:04 am

Click HERE to download a high-resolution version of the 2025 New Jersey Globe Voter’s Guide. Click HERE for a lower-resolution version For the eighth time, the New Jersey Globe presents our annual Year in Review, a look back at the...

Donald Bradley, former Newark council president, dies at 91

July 25, 2025 4:10 pm

Former Newark City Council President Donald Bradley, who represented the city’s South Ward from 1989 to 2006, died yesterday. He was 91. During his seventeen years as a councilman, Bradley advocated for increased facilities for teenage drug treatment programs, expanded...

A brief electoral history of Ras Baraka

May 10, 2025 9:41 pm

If Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is elected governor of New Jersey in this year’s election, he’d make a lot of history. He’d be the first Black person elected to lead the state; in fact, no major party in New Jersey...