NEWARK - Against the backdrop of many battles won and lost, Mayor Ras Baraka emphatically expressed his support for Mikie Sherrill in the West Ward of Newark this afternoon, joining political conquerors and the conquered alike to fix his eye with those others in attendance on the common insidious threat in front of him.

Sherrill defeated Baraka in the June Democratic Primary and in September, he formally endorsed her.

Today, the urban progressive leader more than put an exclamation point on the endorsement, galvanizing a Newark crowd here at a street rally at the corner of Ivy and Tuxedo, where Sherrill appeared with Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

They weathered a lot of contests here. Chigozie Onyema went against Baraka's candidate ward candidate, DoiItAll Kelly, losing, only to reemerge and beat Kelly to become the West Ward Democratic chairman. Onyema forged an alliance with Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones, who fought Baraka in the primary, and who now introduced the mayor of Newark with profound public affection.

The two men embraced as Jones passed Baraka the microphone.

Never natural allies, and often political rivals, the mayor of Newark and party chairman came together today to get behind Sherrill, and defeat President Donald Trump's endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate.

"As Councilman Kelly would say, 'The West Ward is the best ward," said diehard South Warder Baraka.

"At least for today," he cracked.

"I see a beautiful mosaic of diversity out there in the West Ward - an example of what the state looks like - an example of the country looks like," Baraka told the crowd.

"It's what they are trying to make us not see, creating division and hatred among people while they rob from us, while they take wages from our checkbooks, food out of our children's mouths, and remove access to education and healthcare.

"I see a mosaic of democracy," added the mayor. "A beautiful coalition of democracy is what we need in New Jersey."

Then he turned it. Hard.

"Jack Ciattarelli represents the opposite of that," Baraka said. "He does not represent an increase in our wages, reducing our healthcare, or taxing the most to give to the people who need it the most. ...He doesn't support immigrants and folks who are undocumented."

He fixed on a quote by Ciattarelli: "I wonder if we would be having this discussion [about school segregation] if schools with predominantly black student populations were outperforming schools with predominantly white populations."

"I beg your pardon," said Baraka. "All my life I went to good black schools. I graduated from an incredibly great black school, as a matter of fact, Howard University. I'd like to invite him to come through, to Technology High School, University High, Science High, here in the City of Newark."

The mayor lingered on something else Ciattarelli said: “Once you get outside our major urban centers, our most rural communities are just magnificent.”

"Come to this community in the West Ward," said Baraka. "See the beautiful homes, the tree lined streets. You want to see something beautiful? Tell him to come to Ivy Street to see the beautiful families all over the City of Newark - hard working families, who've been here for generations, who love diversity because they love democracy."

The crowd responded.

"We're here for only one reason," Baraka added. "We're here because we want Mikie Sherrill to be the governor. We need Mikie Sherrill to be the governor."

Said Jones of Baraka:

"He has traveled up and down this state with a message of hope and equality and now he's turned that into rhetoric and purpose for Mikie Sherrill."