NEWARK - The ward of the late Ronald L. Rice, a Vietnam veteran and former Newark Police Detective, the same ward as the late John Cryan, WWII veteran and former sheriff of Essex County, contains a lot of bad and tough primary blood supposedly ironed out in general elections.

Like the other four wards, the political warriors here have a pedigree, trained to sharpen intraparty battering rams into November beat-the-burbs mayhem for the opposing party, namely the GOP.

At a street rally here this afternoon for Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill with just over two weeks left on the clock, 32BJ SEIU members, West Ward Democratic Committee regulars, neighbors, party leaders, and elected officials expressed a desire to get the vote out, to send a message countywide, statewide and nationwide: urban support for Sherrill is galvanized and won't allow suburban Essex to dominate on Election Day, November 4th.

Sherrill's hometown, Montclair, looked ready yesterday.

Today, Newark's West Ward under the leadership of Chigozie Onyema, an attorney, organizer, and rising political leader, who's on the ballot this season as an Assembly candidate, rose to attention in the presence of the Democratic nominee for governor, and her guest, Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

Wes Moore in the West Ward.

"Every time I reflect on what's required of me and what's required of us, the word that comes to me is 'love,'" said Onyema. "The kind of love that demands something of us, not just to look away - the kind of love that changes how we life, how we lead, and who we fight for."

If President Donald J. Trump offers a steady diet of hate, keynote speaker Sherrill bashed the Republican President's policies, which spitefully burden working people, she said, starting with tariffs, cuts to education, healthcare, and energy, and the impacts of the ongoing government shutdown, which resulted, Trump said himself earlier this week, in the termination of the Gateway Tunnel project.

Sherrill lingered on tariffs with this working-class crowd.

"Have you noticed that everything from the cup of coffee you drink in the morning to the groceries you use to make dinner have gone up every single day? It's ridiculous.

"It's a worldwide extortion racket," she added. "As we pay more, the president is pocketing billions of dollars. ... And do you want to know what Jack Ciattarelli said? He said we should all take on a little bit of pain to support the president.

"No," added Sherrill. "Huh-uh."

For the Congresswoman's (FULL!) Speech in the West Ward, please see below:

Introduced by Onyema, Democratic State Party Chairman LeRoy Jones gave an impassioned entreaty to the crowd to back Sherrill.

"On November 4th, when we elect Mikie Sherrill to serve our state as the first Democratic woman, that is history in the making, and you are all going to be a part of that," said Jones.

South Ward Councilman Patrick Council, a pastor and recreation department director, didn't want anyone to forget about the South Ward:

North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos made the case for the North:

And At-Large Councilman Luis Quintana offered the citywide view:

School Board President Hasani Council made a case against Jack Ciattarelli's designs on overhauling Abbott Schools Funding:

32BJ SEIU Political Director Ana Maria Hill told InsiderNJ that her members pounded on 150 doors this afternoon in the leadup to the rally.

Senator Britnee Timberlake (D-34) identified the affordability issues she hopes to continue to work on with Sherrill in Trenton:

And an 81-year-old Newarker offered her opinion on who she thinks will be New Jersey's next governor: