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Ras Baraka, son of the late poet and writer Amiri Baraka, defeated Shavar Jeffries and was elected mayor of Newark, NJ last night (May 13).

Reports the New York Times:

Councilman Ras Baraka, the fiery scion of a militant poet, was elected mayor of Newark on Tuesday, signaling a likely shift in the direction that New Jersey’s largest city had embarked upon for most of the last decade.

Mr. Baraka rebuffed a spirited late surge from a political newcomer, Shavar Jeffries, a law professor with an improbable Horatio Alger-like life story, in a bitter contest marred by incendiary rhetoric, arrests and charges of vandalism. With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Baraka was leading with about 54 percent of the vote, compared with 46 percent for Mr. Jeffries, according to unofficial results.

Newark’s previous mayor, Cory A. Booker, left office last year after becoming a U.S. Senator.

Baraka was once a Deputy Mayor under Sharpe James, a principal at Central High School in Newark and more recently a councilman.

Photo: NJ Today