Steve Adubato

Mayor Cory Booker last night in the Central Ward. 

NEWARK - After his loss on Monday night, the last one of this cycle to draw his record to 0-3 in ward fights, Mayor Cory Booker walked outside in the Central Ward and was swarmed instantly by children.

"Mayor Booker!" they shouted. "Mayor Booker!"

They wanted to play in the middle of the heat wave that caused several power outages in the city on Monday, and Booker indulged them, even as his detractors seethed.

"He just got his butt kicked and he’s outside playing Simon Says," said a Newark operative.

Dwight Brown savors victory in the Central Ward on Monday night.

NEWARK - Mayor Cory Booker lost tonight in his final shot this year to win a ward chairman in one of the city’s five wards. Booker had run district leader candidates in the other wards and they lost last Tuesday, most critically in the South Ward.

That meant it came down to the Central, where the mayor once served as the councilman and where his candidate, Jermaine James, was beaten tonight by Dwight Brown, an ally of North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato.

Dwight Brown, an ally of Newark political leader Stephen Adubato, was elected Central Ward Democratic Chairman tonight.  He defeated incumbent Blonnie Watson, and Jermaine James, an ally of Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Newark City Councilman Augusto Amador no longer wants to be considered a member of Team Booker after the Mayor Cory Booker ran County Committee candidates against him and his East Ward allies. There are also reports that State Senator Ronald Rice is negotiating a deal with Newark Democratic leader Steve Adubato to keep Freeholder Blonnie Watson as Central Ward Democratic Chairman. Booker is backing Jermaine James for the post, and Dwight Brown is also running.

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U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10), left, and his son Freeholder and Councilman Donald Payne, Jr. 

The Election Day fight for county committee ward leaders in three of Newark’s five wards so far resulted in no stop-the-presses gains for Mayor Cory Booker, who felt the particular sting of losing to candidates fielded by U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10) and his allies in the South Ward.

Sen. Bob Menendez, earlier this year with Hillary Clinton: Getty Images Photo
No longer as involved in the day-to-day mechanics of local politics, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in back to back statewide elections has proved to be his party’s New Jersey go-to guy.

The former mayor of Union City got out the machine-backed Feb. 5 vote for Clinton with a war cry - "We have an opportunity in Hudson, Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history." And leading up to June 3, he helped U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9) stare down a party uprising in Bergen County that might have weakened crucial organizational support for U.S. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

Clinton won by ten points here with significant Latino support, and Lautenberg buried U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1) yesterday, 61-34%.

East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador feels rattled by Mayor Booker

NEWARK - It’s late afternoon in the Ironbound on Election Day. As another minivan passes with a woman hanging out of the passenger-side window on a megaphone telling people to vote for lines E-8 and E-9, the mood inside East Ward Democratic Party headquarters turns even more sour.

Sitting at a table with his Ironbound allies, including East Ward party leader Joseph Parlavecchio and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho, East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador feels slightly unceremoniously stomped on right now.

Essex County Democratic Party Chairman Phil Thigpen 

NEWARK - Essex County Committee Chairman Phil Thigpen today confirmed to PolitickerNJ.com that he would pursue another term as chair.

"We’re going to go again," he said in his office at the Robert Treat Hotel.