Whip Wilson

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.

State Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden) seems like the favorite to become the next Mayor of Camden.

Camden City Councilman Gilbert “Whip” Wilson won’t run for Mayor this year and will back Dana Redd, a State Senator and City Councilwoman, for the post.  Wilson lost a bid to unseat incumbent Gwendolyn Faison in 2005.

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.