Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, is running for governor of New Jersey this year, in a race that includes heavily financed conservative Democrats Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill. Baraka, a Newark native, a poet, and an educator, is widely seen as a transformative mayor who achieved a 60-year low in crime, replaced 23,000 lead service lines at no cost to residents and reduced homelessness by nearly 60%. Newark once faced a $90 million deficit and is now thriving with unprecedented economic growth. Baraka is the full-on, unapologetic progressive in the race with a vision that centers on tackling systemic challenges— affordability, housing, education, and transportation— while fostering inclusivity and prosperity for all. Last week, when Schumer voted for Trump’s vision, Baraka released this statement and we asked him to expand on it. Please read it, watch the video below and if you’d like to contribute to his campaign, you can do it here.
-by Ras Baraka
We are not just at a defining moment in this nation— we are in uncharted waters. Conventional wisdom does not apply because these are not normal times. But still, today, there are those in the Democratic Party who seem to believe we can simply wait out the storm, that if we just hold our breath and stay the course, things will return to some sense of normalcy. That’s not just naïve, it is dangerous, and it comes from a place of privilege.
Those who urge complacency and moderation, who say we need to “roll over and play dead,” are speaking from safe distances— comfortably insulated in nice homes, secure in their wealth, and untouched by the wreckage that is tearing through working-class communities. Because for the person on the street, for the working family living paycheck to paycheck, for the retired union worker who spent a lifetime building a pension that could be wiped out tomorrow, there is no waiting this out. This storm will drown them.
For the cancer patient who was counting on life-saving research now defunded or delayed, waiting is not an option. For the single mother whose medicaid is on the chopping block, time is a luxury she does not have. For the worker who relies on public transportation that is chronically underfunded, waiting means missed shifts, lost wages, and a knife’s edge of economic uncertainty. The storm is not coming, the storm is here. And unless Democrats meet this moment with the urgency it demands, we are complicit in our collective demise.
Republicans are wrong— not just in their policies, but in their bleak, divisive vision for the future. But if Democrats can’t fight, if we can’t govern with the strength and clarity of our values, then we are the ones making our party smaller, not them. If we can’t take a problem— like the skyrocketing cost of housing, the crumbling of our transportation infrastructure, the growing disparities in wealth and health— and not only prioritize it but fix it, then why should anyone believe we are the party of working people?
This is not a time for caution or half-measures. This is not a time for political survivalism. This is a time for relentless, unapologetic leadership. We must fight— not just against the extremism of the right but for the people who need us most. That means doing the job and making the wealthy pay their fair share so we can fund the investments necessary to lift all boats. That means refusing to let corporate donors dictate our policies. That means governing with the same courage and conviction that got us elected in the first place.
If we fail to rise to this moment, if we shrink back and hope to quietly weather the storm, then we are not just letting the Republicans win— we are abandoning the very people we claim to fight for. And, the fact is, they will not forgive us for that, nor should they.