Newark Mayor Cory Booker moved one step closer to becoming the nation’s only elected black senator on Tuesday night when he won New Jersey’s Democratic primary. The Associated Press quickly called the race for Booker, and with 76 percent of precincts reporting, he currently has about 60 percent of the vote. Rep. Frank Pallone, who was endorsed by the family of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, has twenty percent of the vote, and is trailed by Rep. Rush Holt and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver. Now Booker will face Republican Steven Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, N.J. and candidate for governor, in the special general election in October.
Lonegan also easily won his primary, taking 80 percent of the vote, but it’s unlikely that he’ll beat Booker. The latest Quinnipiac University poll had Booker beating Lonegan by 25 points, and New Jersey hasn’t elected a Republican senator since 1972.
Naturally, Booker took to Twitter to thank his supporters:
Newark residents should probably start locating phone numbers for all local services, because come October they’ll be sharing their superhero mayor with the entire state.
