SOUTH ORANGE - Few in New Jersey politics possess Chigozie Onyema's combination of education, political organizational skills, and passion for the details of public policy and their impact on the lives of real people.

Former general counsel for Mayor Baraka’s Newark Parking Authority, and former assistant commissioner for the state Department of Community Affairs with Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, the attorney and community activist ran for a Newark West Ward Council seat in 2022 , lost to DoitAll Kelly, then in 2024 defeated Kelly for the chairmanship of the West Ward Democratic Committee.

In June, Onyema won the LD-28 Democratic Primary for an Assembly seat and stands poised to win the general election in November in this strongly Democratic district, which contains pieces of Newark, and South Ward and Maplewood. Earlier this month, he appeared with Mikie Sherrill, the Democrats' 2025 gubernatorial nominee, to support the congresswoman's plan for transparency in Trenton.

Having navigated the gubernatorial primary in a county rent asunder by the rivalry between Sherrill and second place finisher Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Onyema - a progressive - holds strong convictions about how to improve a nationally lackluster Democratic Party, and a locally forged, politically pragmatic understanding of how to get there.

What does he think about the divide between Baraka and Sherrill voters, roughly (very, very roughly) characterized by urban versus suburban voters, and perceptions of a centrist candidacy by Sherrill trying to galvanize those diehards on the left inspired by Baraka?

“Voting is a strategic choice,” he told InsiderNJ over coffee this morning. “I won't always have a candidate that I'm completely aligned, or even mostly aligned with, but the way I approach elections is that I vote with the candidate that I'm more likely to push toward our issues. That's how I believe organizers and movement leaders should approach elections.” Onyema, who believes national party leaders should embrace the kind of politics represented by Democratic nominee Zorhan Mamdani, continued, “When we look at it that way, the divisions between the progressive and centrist wings of the party dissipate a bit. The progressive and centrist wings of the party both benefit from having Sherrill over [Republican nominee Jack] Ciattarelli. I think of it this way: when FDR came to power, he didn't run on the New Deal—organizers and labor leaders pushed him. LBJ didn't run on voting rights—Selma moved him. But it's important for people, those who make up the movements, to have a leader who's willing to listen.”

Onyema says Sherrill is that listener.

Finally, he sees Essex in a strong position heading toward the Nov. 4th general election.

"When you have a mayor of Newark like Baraka and an influential candidate like Mikie Sherrill, who stormed the scene in 2018, these are two incredible candidates," he said. "What I see now is folks working incredibly hard in urban and suburban Essex, and it helps that we have [Democratic State Party Chairman] LeRoy Jones, who is a uniter by nature, who makes that transition that much easier."

Sherrill, Onyema says, wants to work with Newarkers and those dismayed by the overall stagnant reaction of establishment party pols to the challenges of the Donald Trump era and the ongoing, exacerbated affordability, healthcare and housing crisis.

"I had a chance to have breakfast with Mikie, and I found her kind, generous, and thoughtful," Onyema said. "One of the things we talked about was place-based investments, and successful models like [Baraka] Obama's Promise Neighborhoods program, which sought to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone nonprofit model in 20 cities across the country." Onyema wants that kind of out-of-the-box investment from the state for New Jersey's at-risk urban and rural communities, combined with other innovative programming, like Marland Governor Wes Moore's ENOUGH Act.

“ENOUGH will be the rallying cry not just here in Baltimore, but ENOUGH will be the rallying cry all throughout the state of Maryland," Moore said last year. "We’ve had enough with poverty, crime and a system where generational challenges go unaddressed. We’ve had enough of the same neighborhoods facing the same issues – and coming up with the same solutions that drive the same results. We will help transform distressed communities into places with top schools; good jobs, safe neighborhoods, quality housing, and economic momentum. That’s the future we’re trying to build. And we’re going to build it in partnership.”

For more on ENOUGH, please go HERE.

Said Onyema:

"Mikie has a vision for all people, and it is important to partner with her. I value how she has invited us to the table. She is respectful of the work people have done over the years in the areas of economic justice and housing." Asked to identify other key issues he would partner with Sherrill to combat in the State Capital, the Democrat listed energy and childcare.

What about Jack Ciattarelli?

For starters, Onyema said he does not like the Republican nominee's policy agenda on the schools funding front. As part of his budget savings plan, Ciattarelli wants to shift New Jersey away from funding based on the landmark Abbott decision to a per-pupil formula, with a more robust emphasis on privatization and school choice.

"Abbott is one of the most significant legal decisions in all educational law in this country," Onyema said.  "Brown versus the Board of Education is at top, of course, on the federal level, but Abbott is not far behind. If jack wants to roll back a significant civil rights victory like Abbott, that is very dangerous. He talked about school choice, but already a third of students [in Newark] attend charters, so that’s not new, but I see in Jack's plan part of a neoliberal push, which is this idea that we want people in a market to make decisions over public dollars. That's detrimental to democracy, and it hasn't benefited communities like mine."

This morning, black ministers courted by Ciattarelli issued their own rejection of the Republican.

Signed by Rev. Dr. Lester Taylor, Jr.; Rev. Dr. Charles F. Boyer; Rev. Dr. Ronald L. Slaughter; Rev. Dr. Semaj Vanzant, Sr.; Rev. Dr. Corey Jones; Rev. Dr. Deborah Blanks; Rev. George E. Britt; Rev. Dr. Lesly Devereaux; Rev. Dr. Darrell Armstrong; Bishop John Gandy; Rev. Crystal James; Pastor Barry Wise; Rev. Dr. Carol Lynn Patterson; Bishop Timothy L. Pernell Jr.; Rev. Ritney Castine; Rev. Dr. Douglas Williams III; Rev. Howard Jenkins; Rev. Richard F. Norris II; Rev. Weldon McWilliams IV, PHD; Rev. Dr. Calvin McKinney; Pastor Alfred Johnson; Pastor Amir Khan; Bishop R. Fulton Hargrove II; Rev. Dr. Pamela Jones; Rev. Dr. Toyin Laoye; Pastor Michael Ogunleye; Pastor, Dr. Femi Adegbonmire; Rev. Dr. James A. Dunkins; Rev. D. Deborah L. Stapleton; Rev. Dr. Olivia Stanard; Rev. John Maurice; Rev. Dr. Dorothy A. Patterson; Rev. Valencia B. Norman; Rev. Dr. John D. Givens, Rev. Dr. Cartina Blackmon; Rev. Quavon Newton; Rev. Dr. Kenneth Clayton, Sr.; and Rev. Dr. Randall Lassiter; Rev. Simeon D. Spencer; Rev. Eyesha Marable: Rev. Dr. Thurselle C Williams, the letter references a September 19 meeting with Black clergy in which Ciattarelli responded to a question about the erasure of Black history by asserting Columbus Day as “the first civil rights holiday.”

Onyema said he agreed with the letter. Based on what he described as the usual dog whistles expressed by a Trump MAGA Republican agenda, Ciattarelli would not "govern to advance the interests of some of our most vulnerable communities."

That said, Democrats need to do better.

Significantly better, he said.

"I think what we see is a bipartisan consensus on housing," he explained. "We want a competing vision that is consequential, and we shouldn't leave something as consequential as housing to just the market.”

There is context here. “[Ronald] Reagan made cuts to affordable housing incentives, and created many more government hurdles for differently-abled people seeking affordable housing options. [Bill] Clinton built on that legacy by making cuts to public housing. This bipartisan consensus is limiting our political imagination."

And ultimately hurting people.

Onyema said he trusts Sherrill will work with Baraka - "who has done great things in the area of leveraging Section 8 vouchers to create home ownership opportunities."

"In the New Jersey State Legislature, Democrats need to offer a competing vision," he said.

As for the divisions on display in the country, and in particular advanced in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, Onyema said, "America's youth have been ignored. When you see the efforts of young people to get rid of student debt and the protests around Middle East policy, young people given voice to their concerns, but have been ignored. My message is to listen to young people. Invite young people in. Don't run from those organizing around climate change. Invite them to the table and be willing to take a seat when they set the table. Listen, we need to be in conversation and community. The political violence around Charlie Kirk, all of it doesn't feel new. Political violence is as old as America. The reality is we need to pay attention to the issues raised and the importance, for example, of climate change, which will flood or excessively warm vulnerable communities, if unaddressed. Inaction is a form of political violence. Not having safe and secure housing. That's political violence. When we ignore structural violence, it opens up the way for some of the individual political violence that we see, because people begin to scapegoat, and makes it harder to address."

For Onyema, the organizer, the politician, the solution goes to the heart of the vital American experience of staying out there, visible and vital, on the trail.  "For me, it's pressing the flesh and talking directly to people, going door to door. These are the tried-and-true methods. I also think technology is an asset, but the political economy of tech companies can be dangerous, they have an incentive to keep us looking at our phones rather than being in community in person.”

"There is nothing like the energy we create in person," he added.