Newark Mayor Booker wins primary for US Senate seat

Newark Mayor Cory Booker was announced the winner in a special election held Tuesday to choose party nominees in a race to fill New Jersey's empty U.S. Senate seat. The primary election was held amid expected low voter turnout and controversy surrounding Gov. Chris Christie's chosen date to hold general elections.

Booker, a Democrat, will face off with Republican Steve Lonegan, who won his party's nomination Tuesday, in general elections scheduled for Oct. 16. A Quinnipiac University poll taken earlier this month showed Booker leading 54 to 29 percent over Lonegan in a general election matchup. New Jersey has not had a Republican U.S. senator since Clifford Case left office in 1979.

With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Booker held a sizeable lead over his Democratic rivals. Booker had captured over 60 percent of the vote, compared to about 20 percent for Rep. Frank Pallone and almost 16 percent for Rep. Rush Holt. New Jersey Assembly speaker Sheila Oliver trailed with under 5 percent.

Bogota mayor Lonegan easily beat his only rival, Dr. Alieta Eck, 80 percent to 20 percent.

The primary was held amid the summer vacation season, and low voter turnout likely had a significant impact on the actual results, suggested David Redlawsk, a professor of political science at Rutgers University and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.

At a polling place inside a Maplewood church, 30 election workers staffed idle voting machines and passed the hours playing games on their cell phones and chatting with one another in the otherwise empty room.

As of mid-afternoon, 50 Democrats and not a single Republican had cast ballots in District 20, one of four districts voting at the church, an election worker said. That compared with about 500 votes cast in the district in the last presidential election, he said.

"To have a special election in the middle of vacation time is a problem," said Ian Grodman, chairman of the Democratic Committee in Maplewood, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one.

"A very small number of people will be making the determination for the greater population," he said.

Concern and controversy over the timing of the election emerged promptly after the Senate seat came open with the death in June of Sen. Frank Lautenberg at age 89. The liberal Democrat had been elected to the Senate five times.

To fill the seat, Republican Gov. Christie called the Aug. 13 primary and scheduled a special election to be held three weeks ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, when he is seeking re-election.

Democrats charged that the two fall elections should have been scheduled for the same day but that Christie was avoiding being on the same ballot as Booker, who could attract both strong Democratic and minority turnout.

Booker's three challengers all had veteran standing in New Jersey politics, but they found little traction against the well-funded and well-known Booker, considered a rising political star.

The Newark mayor has enjoyed the support of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and he has made himself a presence on social media with a prolific Twitter account and a penchant for responding to constituent requests.

The mayor is credited with bringing $1 billion in new development to Newark, including the city's first new downtown hotel in 40 years and the relocation of major companies, including Panasonic, which is building a new North American headquarters downtown.

Opponents have criticized his ambitious nature and asked whether he is more concerned with himself than with his constituents. An article in The New York Times last week raised questions about the circumstances of Booker's stake in an Internet start-up company and his close involvement with Silicon Valley executives.

Al Jazeera and wire services