Mayor Is Reelected in Bitter N.J. Race

Mayor Sharpe James fended off a furious challenge from an Ivy Leaguer half his age Tuesday to win an unprecedented fifth term after a bruising campaign filled with charges of vandalism, voter intimidation and race-baiting.

James, 66, and Cory Booker, a 33-year-old freshman city councilman, had waged a ferocious battle to lead New Jersey’s largest city as it sheds its national image as a community blighted beyond hope.

With 99% of precincts reporting, James had 28,363 votes, or 53%, and Booker had 24,869 votes, or 46%.

About 300 supporters chanted “Cory! Cory!” as Booker conceded.

“We fought one hell of a fight,” Booker said. “We fought for our values, for our children and for what we believe in.”

Hundreds of James supporters began hugging each other and crying “Four more years!” in a glittering hotel ballroom filled with red, white and blue balloons and signs bearing his reelection slogan: “The Real Deal.”

“We must come together to continue to rebuild our city,” James said. “This election was not about Sharpe James. It’s about the future of Newark. Tomorrow we go forward as a family.”

The months-long campaign was so nasty that federal prosecutors posted observers at the polls to watch for fraud and intimidation.

U.S. Atty. Chris Christie said there were dozens of complaints but no reports of people being prevented from voting. Police arrested a 25-year-old cousin of Gov. James E. McGreevey’s wife for allegedly vandalizing James’ campaign signs. Booker called the arrest “purely political.”

The tense election capped a campaign that had drawn national attention and outside money as James and Booker offered starkly different visions of Newark’s future.

While both men are black Democrats in a mostly black city, the lighter-skinned Booker said James questioned his black authenticity by calling him a “white boy” and accusing him of taking campaign donations from the Ku Klux Klan.

James spokesman Rich McGrath called the allegations “ludicrous” and said Booker was trying to distract voters from the issues.

A cartoon on the mayor’s Web site portrayed Booker on an assembly line behind black Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, under the headline “Neo-Black Politicos.”

The candidates accused each other of breaking into their campaign headquarters, and a James aide at one point got into a shoving match with a documentary filmmaker James said worked for Booker.