Tom Martello writes a regular column about the 2025 race for New Jersey governor. Brent Johnson writes the subscriber-only newsletter What Makes Jersey Run. They combined forces in the aftermath of Ras Baraka‘s arrest by ICE agents Friday in Newark. And just like that, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is the most talked-about politician in New Jersey.

Newark mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka is now a martyr.

The Newark, New Jersey, mayor has responded to accusations of trespass at an ICE facility from interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.

The arrest followed an intense struggle in which immigrant rights protestors surrounded Mayor Ray Baraka to try and prevent his arrest.

The Election Law Enforcement Commission dished out a little more than $400,000 in public matching funds to a pair of Democratic gubernatorial candidates

The state’s US Attorney Alina Habba on Friday confirmed Baraka’s arrest, saying he “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.