Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest last week at a federal immigration detention facility could shake up the New Jersey governor’s race, as Baraka looks to appeal to progressive Democratic voters to win the crowded prim.
Baraka is one of six Democrats on the June 10 prim ballot, and he has been campaigning for months as an unapologetic progressive but has been vastly outspent spreading that message on the airwaves. His arrest Friday at the facility, known as Delaney Hall, could boost his profile just as Democratic voters look for a candidate willing to fight President Donald Trump.
“We’re fighting to uphold the Constitution the United States,” Baraka told supporters on a call with a coalition of progressive groups Monday evening. “We’re fighting to uphold democracy that every single person deserves due process.”
LaVar Young, who chairs the pro-Baraka super PAC One New Jersey United, said Baraka’s arrest shows “there’s only been one candidate that’s really been putting action behind his words.”
“I think Friday was just really a demonstration of what he’s been doing over the last 30, 40 years of his career,” Young later added, noting the super PAC expects to launch a digital ad highlighting Baraka’s arrest later this week. “And I hope voters are able to see there’s a difference between rhetoric and action.“
New Jersey is one of two states, along with Virginia, that are holding governor’s races this year, which could provide indications about how voters are reacting to Trump’s second term. The New Jersey Democratic prim is also one of the party’s first significant internal contests following its 2024 loss to Trump — and amid its fractious deliberations about the party’s path forward.
The crowded race features Baraka, Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney. All but Spiller are facing off Monday night in a debate.
While some New Jersey political strategists view Sherrill as a leading candidate, the race is hotly contested. The most recent survey, from Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics, showed all six Democratic prim contenders clustered from 7% to 17% support — and the gap between first place and last place within the poll’s margin of error. Baraka’s path to victory involves consolidating his party’s liberal base and leveraging his support in Newark, the state’s largest city, where he was first elected mayor in 2014. And his arrest could help him do just that.
“If he can move a few thousand voters with a moment like this, it’s meaningful,” said one New Jersey Democratic operative granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race.
The operative noted that the prim winner will not need a large percentage of the vote given how the crowded field will divide support. The person said Baraka’s arrest could be a “big blow” to Fulop as the two mayors have been battling for progressive voters.
“This kind of a genuine, values-driven moment is huge for the type of voters that they’re going for,” the operative said.
Each of Baraka’s prim opponents condemned the arrest on Friday, calling it outrageous and demanding that he be released. The top two GOP candidates for governor, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and radio host Bill Spadea, slammed the arrest as a political stunt on the part of Baraka.
“I wish it was, then I wouldn’t have to go to court on May 15,” Baraka told Zeteo’s Mehdi Hassan on Monday afternoon.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., who sought to enter the detention center along with Reps. LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez on Friday, pushed back on the criticism that Baraka’s arrest was a stunt.
“The mayor doesn’t do things just for performance. He does the things that he needs to do to protect the people,” said Watson Coleman, who has endorsed Baraka in the prim.
Baraka’s campaign has been emphasizing his opposition to Delaney Hall, launching ads, including one over the weekend, that featured footage of the mayor at a protest there earlier this year.
“There’s only one progressive who Democrats trust: Ras Baraka,” a narrator says in the 15-second spot. “Ras is the Democrat we trust to fight for working families, to make the wealthy pay their fair share, to stand up to Musk and Trump.”
The ad comes as other candidates have dominated the airwaves, also making the case that they will take on Trump.
Gottheimer and his aligned super PACs have spent a combined $18.9 million on ads so far in the race this year, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Fulop and his aligned super PAC have spent a combined $14.3 million, while the pro-Spiller super PAC tied to the New Jersey teacher’s union has spent $7.8 million. Baraka, Sweeney and Sherrill, and their aligned outside groups, have each spent around $2 million.
While the candidates have pledged to take on Trump, they have also been making the case that they are best positioned to win in November, with the race expected to be competitive. Trump lost New Jersey by 6 points last year, but that was 10 points better than his 2020 margin by 10 points, making it the state with second-largest swing toward Trump in the country.
The Democratic operative noted that some in the party are concerned that Baraka may be too liberal for New Jersey’s more moderate voters, who have supported Republicans for governor in the past.
“There is certainly a feeling among Democrats that if we do not nominate the right candidate we are in for a very, very difficult general election,” the operative said, noting that the concern is heightened given that Ciattarelli could once again be the GOP nominee. Ciattarelli lost a surprisingly close race to current Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by 3 percentage points in 2021.
Murphy was barred from running again in 2025 due to term limits.
Ciattarelli also weighed in on Baraka’s address, calling it “cheap publicity stunt” in a post on X, and accusing Baraka of “shilling for illegal immigrants” amid ongoing chaos at Newark airport and scores of flight delays.
The comment offered a preview of Republicans’ potential case against Baraka, as well as how the party plans to focus on immigration in the governor’s race. Immigration has been one of the few dividing lines in the Democratic prim, and it’s a thorny issue for Democrats in a state where nearly one in four residents are immigrants. Republicans have leveraged the immigration issue, along with affordability, to make gains in the Garden State.
“I think for other Dems it’s more complicated,” a second New Jersey Democratic operative, who has worked for one of Baraka’s prim opponents, wrote in a text message. “Being against ‘a facility to hold criminals’ is not a winning message. But the admin arresting elected officials is a better message for us to push, and separate it from immigration issue.”
Watson Coleman dismissed concerns that Baraka is too liberal to win a general election, noting he is fighting for “humane, foundational” issues like access to affordable health care, housing and food. She said she decided to back Baraka over the other candidates, including two of her House colleagues, because of his governing experience.
Democratic voters, Watson Coleman said, “are looking for representation. They are looking for someone that they think will look after their interests and their needs. They’re looking for a person that will stand up for them.”
