“Reimagine New Jersey”
Newark Municipal Council 2002-2006 & 2010-2014, Mayor of Newark 2014-Present
rasforgovernor.com
This post about New Jersey 2025 candidate for governor Ras Baraka is part of Garden State Growth’s blog series exploring the Democratic candidates running in the June 10 gubernatorial primary election.
Candidate Overview
New Jersey candidate for governor Ras Baraka has been Mayor of Newark since 2014, following a career as a municipal councilor and educator. Baraka is campaigning as a progressive focused on social justice, racial desegregation, and civil rights. Here’s how he stands on the key Garden State Growth policy pillars:
- Legal Rights and Social Protection – Public statements supporting social justice and LGBTQ and immigrant rights
- Cost of Living and Accessibility – 13-point plan to address housing affordability and availability and an “opportunity economy” focused on desegregation
- Access to Health Care – Calls for a public funding option for health care, rate caps, and price controls
- Quality of Education – Calls for desegregation in New Jersey’s education system and equal access to high-quality education
Ras Baraka’s Platform
Housing
With an ambitious, 13-point affordable housing plan, Baraka aims to increase all New Jerseyans’ access to housing. His proposed mix of regulatory-, investment-, and advocacy-based approaches include stabilizing rent and incentivising new construction.
Economic Development
Baraka calls for an “opportunity economy” to support New Jersey residents’ financial health with minimum wage hikes, exploration of a universal basic income (UBI), NJ Transit rail and bus expansion, investment in higher education, and significant subsidies to a number of industries. He criticizes the Stay NJ property tax relief program as too focused on very wealthy older people’s needs. He also criticizes congestion pricing as not designed with the poorest New Jerseyans in mind, potentially “raising money for the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] off the backs of working people.”
Budget
Baraka’s budget plan is fairly low-detail, though it calls for starting with the goal of a fully integrated and prosperous society and then working back from there. However, he does call for tax bracket reform, inheritance tax reform, and a luxury sales tax.
Governance
Here, Baraka calls for aligning New Jersey’s election cycle more with the national election cycle and increasing voter registration and engagement, allowing same-day voter registration, re-enfranchising formerly incarcerated New Jerseyans, and preventing the reappearance of county-line ballots.
Civil Rights and Social Rights
Neither Baraka’s campaign website nor his official platform focuses on civil rights or LGBTQ rights. However, he has made strong public statements about social justice, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights, including opposition to the controversial Delaney Hall detention center .
Health Care Costs
Baraka’s platform calls for a public health insurance option, rate caps, price transparency rules, and drug price negotiation. From the perspective that health care is a basic human right, his goal is to increase access and affordability, while also addressing the social determinants of health outcomes.
Learn More
Continue reading our six-part series to learn more about the Democrats’ other gubernatorial candidates.
Up next: Steven Fulop