Angel Fuentes

Dana Redd's victory in the Camden mayoral race was as easy as everyone expected, which means Democrats will need to fill her fifth district State Senate seat.  Possible candidates include Assemblymen-elect Donald Norcross and Angel Fuentes, outgoing Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Camden City Councilwoman Dana Burley, and Camden City Councilman Whip Wilson.  Redd will need to step down no later than January 1, when she takes office as mayor; a special election convention would be held 7-35 days after her resignation.  If it's Norcross or Fuentes, a second special election convention would need to be held to fill their Assembly seats.

Donald Norcross was endorsed for State Assembly by the Courier-Post.

The Courier-Post today endorsed South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross for State Assembly in the fifth district, saying that Norcross is well versed on state issues and "would be able to hit the ground running in Trenton" even though he'll be a freshman. 

The Courier-Post also endorsed Norcross' running mate, Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes.  The two are seeking to replace Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) and Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden).  Neither are seeking re-election.

But the Gloucester County Times declined to back Norcross, instead supporting Fuentes and Republican Stepfanie Velez-Gentry, who has attracted national attention because she owns a company that sells sex toys to women

Norcross, the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman and the brother of Democratic leader George Norcross, set a record this month for the single biggest fundraising event for a first-time candidate: he raised a reported $350,000. 

"Norcross has been a union leader, yet he understands that things cannot be the same for future government workers as they have been and are for current ones in terms of pay and benefits. He sees that Trenton can't afford to keep handing out fat pensions and loads of other expensive benefits and remain solvent," the editorial said.  "While Norcross and Fuentes likely won't be as independent from party-line politics as we'd like, in this race, they're clearly the best choices."

Norcross, according to the Courier-Post, would not deny that he'll quickly move up to the Senate after State Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden) wins her race for Mayor of Camden.

Assemby Speaker Joseph Roberts (C-Camden), above, is not seeking re-election to the State Assembly. South Jersey Democrats picked labor leader Donald Norcross to replace him.

Southern Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, the brother of one of the state's most powerful political insiders, won the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the fifth district today.  He ran unopposed at a special convention of Camden County Democrats to replace Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), who announced last month that he would not seek re-election.

"I believe we must change the way business is done in Trenton," Norcross told Democrats today.  "We must put our partisan differences and the special interests aside to do what is best for the ordinary, hard-working taxpayers of this state. The status quo is not working. The state government is wasting too much of our money."
 
Norcross, the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman and the brother of George Norcross III, called for a state-government spending freeze and a moratorium on tax increases.

Mayoral candidate/state Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden)

CAMDEN - Ensconsed in the trappings of Democratic Party power, hometown hero state Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden), whose parents were the victims of a double homicide when she was eight years old, today announced her candidacy for mayor with a promise to bring a crime-beleagured city back to waterfront glory. 

"Let's put an end to the petty, counter-productive bickering, no more fighting, ward against ward, black against Hispanic. I'm declaring it today, it is over," said Redd in an atmosphere still energized by President Barack Obama's Jan. 20th swearing-in and his call for national unity.  

The 40-year old Camden native entered the race with the blessing if not official backing of incumbent Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, 82, who stood briefly onstage and appeared to be just bucked up enough to make some “Camden first” comments in the face of party leaders who respectfully acknowledged Faison’s service before firmly throwing whatever heft they have behind rising star Redd. 

"I'm the mayor that made Camden work," an almost defiant-sounding Faison said. "I'm here today because the city is bigger than me. My heart is with Camden. ...I am here to support anyone who will help the City of Camden. That is my statement."

She said she had intended to declare her intentions regarding her political future at a Feb. 23rd press conference, and gently made it known that Redd's presser today pre-empted her own plans somewhat.

State Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden) is leaning toward running for Mayor of Camden in the May municipal election, South Jersey Democratic sources say.  Octogenarian incumbent Gwendolyn Faison, whose actual age varies among different news outlets, is expected to run again but has not yet announced her intentions.  The Camden mayoral post has been the one prize to elude powerful South Jersey political leader George Norcross. 

Redd, a City Councilwoman and Vice Chair of the Democratic State Committee, is viewed as a rising star in State Democratic politics.  She won Wayne Bryant's State Senate seat in 2007 and has just finished her first year in the Legislature.   Because she went to the Senate prior to February 1, 2008, the new state law banning dual office holding does not apply to her Council and Senate seats.  But if she were to be elected Mayor, she would be forced to give up her Senate seat.  That would create a July Special Election Convention to replace her in the Legislature, and a November 2009 Special Election to fill the remaining 26 months on her term.

If Redd runs for Mayor, she would effectively be taking herself out of the running for Lt. Governor.  It would be hard for Jon Corzine to pick her a week after winning the June Democratic primary.

Candidates backed by the county Democratic organization swept contests for the Camden City Council. Incumbents Angel Fuentes, Bill Spearman, Frank Moran were re-elected, along with Assembly Clerk Dana Burley, who defeated Vance Bowman in the first ward.