NEWARK - Five candidates are running for the Newark Central Ward City Council seat left vacant since last September when LaMonica McIver resigned to take her position in the U.S. House of Representatives.

They will vie for the approximate six-month council term in a non-partisan Nov. 4 special election. Whoever garners the most votes this November will serve until the winner of the May 2026 council race takes office on July 1.

It appears that the Central Ward race will likely come down to Amina Bey, a political ally of Mayor Ras J. Baraka, and former City Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, who ran against Baraka for mayor in 2018.

Bey is running under the campaign slogan “A Bold Choice for Central Ward,” while Chaneyfield Jenkins holds the slogan “Leadership That Will Work for You

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