Democratic governor hopefuls concede race, vow to keep seat in Dem hands

The Democrats who lost their party’s nomination for governor to Rep. Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday said they will fight to unite the party and keep the governorship in Democrats’ hands in November.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka told supporters at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark that Democrats have to make sure Sherrill’s November opponent, Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, “does not win.” Initial results show Baraka coming in second place, about 100,000 votes behind Sherrill.

“What we’re facing is dangerous and ugly and terrible. And terrible. So we have to bring the party together statewide,” said Baraka. “We have to keep fighting and pushing and fighting and pushing and fighting and pushing for working-class families. And I keep saying that because I’m from Newark.”

Baraka’s campaign was jolted in the last month by his arrest by federal agents for trespassing at an ICE jail in Newark, a charge authorities quickly dropped. He described his campaign’s progress as proof that working-class people can defy expectations and build a powerful, grassroots movement, adding, “People didn’t think we would make it this far.”

“This is the beginning. It’s not the end of anything. We want to build a broad-based coalition across this state of community activists, of union, of labor, of progressives across the state of New Jersey, across zip code and nationality, across religion and how you identify,” Baraka said.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop called Tuesday a “tough, tough, tough night” while addressing supporters at Zeppelin Hall in Jersey City.

“The state is at a crossroads, and although tonight wasn’t what we wanted, it’s important that we work hard to make sure a Democrat gets elected in November. That’s important,” he said.

Fulop, who will end his third term as Jersey City mayor this year, said he and his wife would be taking a vacation now that the campaign is over. Fulop first announced his gubernatorial run more than two years ago.

“Life goes on, and we’ll continue to fight, make a better Jersey City, and we’ll fight for a better state of New Jersey when we’re back here,” he said.

Sherrill won a resounding victory, nabbing the win in all but six of the state’s 21 counties, according to preliminary vote totals. Late Tuesday, she was leading with 34% of the vote, with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in second place with 20%, and Fulop in third with 16%. Rep. Josh Gottheimer won 12%, teachers union president Sean Spiller captured 11%, and former state Sen. Steve Sweeney was in last place with 7%.

Gottheimer conceded his loss while speaking on a stage at a union hall in Paramus alongside his family. Gottheimer, who campaigned on a dramatic pledge to reduce property taxes by 15%, said he’ll continue to fight for the Fifth Congressional District — which he has represented since 2017 — and will “never, ever stop fighting to protect Jersey.”

Former state Sen. Steve Sweeney said he called Sherrill to congratulate her on her win.

“While the outcome is not what we hoped for, I couldn’t be more grateful to every supporter, volunteer, and voter who believed in my campaign and my vision for New Jersey,” he said on social media.

In a statement, teachers union president Sean Spiller congratulated Sherrill while also painting his defeat as one at the hands of “wealthy special interests and insiders.” Spiller’s campaign was fueled by the support of an outside group that spent around $40 million boosting his campaign, with funding entirely from a separate super PAC linked to Spiller’s union.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work we did to drive forward issues of fairness and affordability and proud of the thousands of grassroots supporters who came together to support our campaign,” Spiller said.

Baraka, meanwhile, left the door open to a change in the results.

“Look, the vote’s still coming in, y’all. They didn’t count Newark, Paterson, or Passaic or any of these places yet. Those votes are still coming in. The night is still early. Listen, we’re going to go to sleep and wake up in the morning and see what happens. God bless y’all,” he said.

Clerks in Essex and Passaic counties reported Tuesday night that most of the voting precincts in Newark and Passaic had completely reported their results, while many of Paterson’s precincts had not yet been reported.

Juliana DeFrancesco, 18, was one of Baraka’s roughly 160,000 suporters. DeFrancesco, who voted Tuesday at a Ewing community center for only the second time ever, said cast her ballot for Baraka because he has “a lot of really important social opinions.”

“I think he’s a really good, qualified candidate. I like how he speaks, and I like that he stands up for all people, and I think that’s really important,” DeFrancesco said. “That’s kind of like what this country was founded on, making sure everybody’s equal, everybody has opportunities to get what they want, so I think that’s really important.”

Dana DiFilippo and Morgan Leason contributed.