Newark, New Jersey
Newark (/ˈnjuːərk/ NEW-ərk,[24] locally /ˈnʊərk/ NOORK)[25] is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the seat of Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area.[26][27][28] As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 311,549.[11][12] The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 305,344 for 2022, making it the 66th-most populous municipality in the nation.[13]
"Brick City" redirects here. For other uses, see Brick City (disambiguation).
Newark, New Jersey
Religious colony (1663)
October 31, 1693
April 11, 1836
Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England
Ras Baraka (D, term ends June 30, 2026)[4][5]
Eric E. Pennington[6]
Kecia Daniels (acting)[7]
25.88 sq mi (67.04 km2)
24.14 sq mi (62.53 km2)
1.74 sq mi (4.51 km2) 6.72%
102nd of 565 in state
1st of 22 in county[2]
13 ft (4 m)
311,549
305,344
12,903.8/sq mi (4,982.2/km2)
22nd of 565 in state
4th of 22 in county[15]
Newarker[16]
Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Its location at the mouth of the Passaic River, where it flows into Newark Bay, has made the city's waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Port Newark–Elizabeth is the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast. Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal commercial airport in the United States and has become one of the busiest.[29][30][31]
Several companies are headquartered in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Audible.com, IDT Corporation, Manischewitz, and AeroFarms. Higher education institutions in the city include the Newark campus of Rutgers University, which includes law and medical schools and the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies; University Hospital; the New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Seton Hall University's law school. Newark is a home to numerous governmental offices, largely concentrated at Government Center and the Essex County Government Complex. Cultural venues include the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Symphony Hall, the Prudential Center, The Newark Museum of Art, and the New Jersey Historical Society. Branch Brook Park is the oldest county park in the United States and is home to the nation's largest collection of cherry blossom trees, numbering over 5,000.
Newark is divided into five political wards (East, West, South, North and Central).[32] The majority of Black residents reside in the South, Central, and West Wards of the city, while the North and East Wards are mostly populated by Latinos.[33] Ras Baraka has served as mayor of Newark since 2014.
Government[edit]
Local[edit]
The city is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor-Council Plan C form of local government, which became effective as of July 1, 1954, after the voters of the city of Newark passed a referendum held on November 3, 1953.[8][313] The city is one of 79 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government.[314] The governing body comprises the Mayor and the City Council, who are elected concurrently on a non-partisan basis to four-year terms of office at the May municipal election. The mayor is directly elected by the residents of Newark. The city council comprises nine members, with one council member from each of the city's five wards and four council members who are elected on an at-large basis.[315] The structure of the council was established after a 1953 referendum, in which more than 65% of voters approved a change from a five-member commission.[316]
As of 2023, the Mayor of Newark is Ras Baraka, who is serving a third term of office ending on June 30, 2026;[4] Baraka first took office as the city's 40th mayor on July 1, 2014.[317] Members of Newark's Municipal Council are Council President LaMonica McIver (Central Ward), Luis A. Quintana (at-large), Patrick O. Council (South Ward), C. Lawrence Crump (at-large), Carlos M. Gonzalez (at-large), Dupré L. Kelly (West Ward), Anibal Ramos Jr. (North Ward), Louise Scott-Rountree (at-large) and Michael J. Silva (East Ward), all serving concurrent terms of office ending June 30, 2026.[318][319][320][321][322]
Federal, state, and county[edit]
Newark is split between the 8th and 10th Congressional Districts[323] and is part of New Jersey's 28th and 29th state legislative districts.[324][325][326][327] Prior to the 2010 census, Newark had been split between the 10th Congressional District and the 13th Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.[327] As part of the split that took effect in 2013, 123,763 residents in two non-contiguous sections in the city's north and northeast were placed in the 8th District and 153,377 in the southern and western portions of the city were placed in the 10th District.[323][328]
For the 118th United States Congress, New Jersey's 8th congressional district is represented by Rob Menendez (D, Jersey City).[329][330] For the 118th United States Congress, New Jersey's 10th congressional district is represented by Donald Payne Jr. (D, Newark).[331][332] New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2027)[333] and Bob Menendez (Englewood Cliffs, term ends 2025).[334][335]
For the 2024-2025 session, the 28th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Renee Burgess (D, Irvington) and in the General Assembly by Garnet Hall (D, Maplewood) and Cleopatra Tucker (D, Newark).[336] For the 2024-2025 session, the 29th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Teresa Ruiz (D, Newark) and in the General Assembly by Eliana Pintor Marin (D, Newark) and Shanique Speight (D, Newark).[337]
Essex County is governed by a directly elected county executive, with legislative functions performed by the Board of County Commissioners. As of 2024, the County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. (D, Roseland), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2026.[338] The county's Board of County Commissioners is composed of nine members, five of whom are elected from districts and four of whom are elected on an at-large basis. They are elected for three-year concurrent terms and may be re-elected to successive terms at the annual election in November.[339] Essex County's Commissioners are:
Robert Mercado (D, District 1 – Newark's North and East Wards, parts of Central and West Wards; Newark, 2026),[340]
A'Dorian Murray-Thomas (D, District 2 – Irvington, Maplewood and parts of Newark's South and West Wards; Newark, 2026),[341]
Vice President Tyshammie L. Cooper (D, District 3 - Newark: West and Central Wards; East Orange, Orange and South Orange; East Orange, 2026),[342]
Leonard M. Luciano (D, District 4 – Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange; West Caldwell, 2026),[343]
President Carlos M. Pomares (D, District 5 – Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Nutley; Bloomfield, 2026),[344]
Brendan W. Gill (D, at large; Montclair, 2026),[345]
Romaine Graham (D, at large; Irvington, 2026),[346]
Wayne Richardson (D, at large; Newark, 2026),[347]
Patricia Sebold (D, at-large; Livingston, 2026).[348][349][350][351][352]
Constitutional officers elected countywide are:
Clerk Christopher J. Durkin (D, West Caldwell, 2025),[353][354]
Register of Deeds Juan M. Rivera Jr. (D, Newark, 2025),[355][356]
Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura (D, Fairfield, 2024),[357][358] and
Surrogate Alturrick Kenney (D, Newark, 2028).[359][360]
Politics[edit]
On the national level, Newark leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. As of March 23, 2011, out of a 2010 census population of 277,140 in Newark, there were 136,785 registered voters (66.3% of the 2010 population ages 18 and over of 206,253, vs. 77.7% in all of Essex County of the 589,051 ages 18 and up) of which 68,393 (50.0% vs. 45.9% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 3,548 (2.6% vs. 9.9% countywide) were registered as Republicans, 64,812 (47.4% vs. 44.1% countywide) were registered as Unaffiliated and there were 30 voters registered to other parties.[361]
In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 90.8% of the vote (77,112 ballots cast), ahead of Republican John McCain who received 7.0% of the vote (5,957 votes), with 84,901 of the city's 140,946 registered voters participating, for a turnout of 60.2% of registered voters.[362] In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 95.0% of the vote (78,352 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 4.7% (3,852 votes), and other candidates with 0.4% (298 votes), among the 82,030 ballots cast by the city's 145,059 registered voters for a turnout of 56.5%.[363][364] In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 90.7% of the vote (69,042 cast); Republican Donald Trump received 6.7% of the vote (5,094 cast); and other candidates received 1.5% of the vote (1,139 cast).[365]
In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 80.8% of the vote (29,039 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 17.9% (6,443 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (437 votes), among the 37,114 ballots cast by the city's 149,778 registered voters (1,195 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 24.8%.[366][367] In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 90.2% of the vote (36,637 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie who received 8.3% of the vote (3,355 votes), with 40,613 of the city's 134,195 registered voters (30.3%) participating.[368]
Political corruption[edit]
Newark has been marred with political corruption throughout the years. Five of the previous seven mayors of Newark have been indicted on criminal charges, including the three mayors before Cory Booker: Hugh Addonizio, Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James. As reported by Newsweek: "... every mayor since 1962 (except one, Cory Booker) has been indicted for crimes committed while in office".[369]
Addonizio was mayor of Newark from 1962 to 1970. A son of Italian immigrants, a tailor and World War II veteran, he ran on a reform platform, defeating the incumbent, Leo Carlin, whom, ironically, Addonizio characterized as corrupt and a part of the political machine of the era. In December 1969, Addonizio and nine present or former officials of the municipal administration in Newark were indicted by a Federal grand jury; five other persons were also indicted.[370] In July 1970, the former mayor, and four other defendants, were found guilty by a Federal jury on 64 counts each, one of conspiracy and 63 of extortion.[371] In September 1970, Addonizio was sentenced to ten years in federal prison and fined $25,000 by Federal Judge George H. Barlow for his role in a plot that involved the extortion of $1.5 million in kickbacks, a crime that the judge said "tore at the very heart of our civilized society and our form of representative government".[372][373]
His successor was Kenneth Gibson, the city's first African American mayor, elected in 1970. He pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in 2002 as part of a plea agreement on fraud and bribery charges. During his tenure as mayor in 1980, Gibson was tried and acquitted of giving out no-show jobs by an Essex County jury.[374]
Sharpe James, who defeated Gibson in 1986 and declined to run for a sixth term in 2006, was indicted on 33 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud by a federal grand jury sitting in Newark. The grand jury charged James with spending $58,000 on city-owned credit cards for personal gain and orchestrating a scheme to sell city-owned land at below-market prices to his companion, who immediately re-sold the land to developers and gained a profit of over $500,000. James pleaded not guilty on 25 counts at his initial court appearance on July 12, 2007. On April 17, 2008, James was found guilty for his role in the conspiring to rig land sales at nine city-owned properties for personal gain. The former mayor was sentenced to serve up to 27 months in prison, and was released on April 6, 2010, for good behavior.[375]
Education[edit]
Colleges and universities[edit]
Newark is the home of multiple institutions of higher education, including: a Berkeley College campus,[376] the main campus of Essex County College,[377] New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT),[378] the Newark Campus of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (formerly University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey),[379] Rutgers University–Newark,[380] Seton Hall University School of Law,[381] and Pillar College. Kean University is located in adjacent Union, New Jersey. Most of Newark's academic institutions are in the city's University Heights district. The colleges and universities have worked together to help revitalize the area, which serves more than 60,000 students and faculty.[382]