Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has thrown his hat into the ring for the 2025 gubernatorial race, making the announcement on Monday night at a Black History Month event in Trenton.
Baraka’s entry into the race marks the third Democrat vying to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, joining Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and former Senate President Steve Sweeney.
The 53-year-old mayor, currently serving his third term in New Jersey’s largest city, launched his campaign at the War Memorial’s Patriots Theater. If successful, Baraka would become the state’s first black governor.
A former high school principal, Baraka has a long history of public service, including two stints on the Newark City Council before clinching the mayoral seat in a hotly-contested race in 2014. He secured landslide re-election victories in both 2018 and 2022. His father, Amiri Baraka, was a well-known poet and civil rights leader in Newark.
