Newark to Begin a New Political Era

Cory Booker, a 37-year-old former Rhodes scholar, became Newark’s first new mayor in two decades by a landslide Tuesday, ushering in a new era for the struggling city.

Booker swamped his nearest challenger, state Sen. Ronald L. Rice, taking 72% of the vote compared to 24% for the lawmaker.

“My city, our city, New Jersey’s greatest city, Newark, N.J., has spoken,” Booker told a noisy crowd of supporters at Essex Community College in downtown Newark. “Today, Newark, N.J., has embraced change.”

Booker’s victory marks a generational change of black leadership in a city trying to rebound from decades of urban decay.

“Cory has been handed the awesome responsibility of fulfilling Newark’s potential,” said Walter Fields, a former political director for the New Jersey NAACP.

Mayor Sharpe James, 70, announced in March that he would not seek a sixth term.

Booker, a former city councilman, lost to James in 2002, falling 3,500 votes short out of about 56,000 cast in a nasty race chronicled in the Oscar-nominated documentary film “Street Fight.”

Also on Tuesday, there were two state primaries.

In West Virginia, Sen. Robert C. Byrd handily won the Democratic primary and will face businessman John Raese, who beat out five other Republicans. The 88-year-old Byrd, an outspoken Iraq war critic seeking a record ninth term, is a major target of the GOP this year.

Byrd easily defeated the token opposition -- from musician and political novice Bill Hendricks Jr. -- he faced on the Democratic side.

“The trust my fellow West Virginians have placed in me is truly humbling, and you can bet I will work very hard to earn the continued support of Democrats and Republicans alike,” Byrd said.

In Nebraska, football coach-turned-congressman Tom Osborne tried -- and failed -- to take down Gov. Dave Heineman in the Republican primary for governor.

With 97% of the vote counted, Heineman had 50% and Osborne had 44%. Omaha businessman Dave Nabity had about 6%.

Osborne was initially considered a strong favorite because of his three national championships at the University of Nebraska. In his three congressional races, Osborne never received less than 82% of the vote.

But recent polls showed Osborne and Heineman virtually tied and Nabity in single digits.

Heineman was state treasurer when he was appointed lieutenant governor by Gov. Mike Johanns in 2001 and became governor in 2005 when Johanns was picked as U.S. Agriculture secretary.

In the Nebraska Senate primary, Pete Ricketts, a political newcomer and billionaire’s son, captured the Republican nomination and will face Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson in November.