Former rivals endorse Gusciora for Trenton mayor
TRENTON » Assemblyman Reed Gusciora has “more wheels for the Gus Bus” in his campaign to become Trenton’s next mayor.
“This night is really and especially important to me in the campaign,” Gusciora, a longtime Democratic assemblyman, said Tuesday as he officially received campaign endorsements from Walker Worthy Jr. and Trenton Councilman Duncan Harrison Jr., two former rivals who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in the May 8 election.
Gusciora received 1,841 votes in Round 1 to advance to a June 12 runoff against Paul Perez, who collected 2,582 votes as the top-vote-getter in the initial contest that featured seven candidates.
Worthy collected 1,653 votes in his losing effort and Harrison had even less support in the May 8 election with 713 votes, but both of those failed candidates stood beside Gusciora Tuesday evening saying the assemblyman deserves to be elected as Trenton’s next municipal leader.
“We need the establishment; we need established people with good relationships to move this city forward,” Worthy said. “We can’t have a Johnny-come-lately in the office of the mayor. We’ve gotta have somebody who has a proven record, and Reed has that proven record of helping people.”
Harrison, an at-large city councilman, said Gusciora “is the man who is going to lead the people to make this City of Trenton great.”
The endorsement powwow took place at Worthy’s former campaign headquarters at 12 S. Warren St., which was littered with an abundance of Gusciora campaign signs alongside a handful of newly converted Gusciora supporters such as former Trenton councilman Manny Segura, who had previously boarded the Worthy wagon.
“I really appreciate their support,” Gusciora said of Worthy and Harrison. He referred to them as being “more wheels for the Gus Bus,” adding, “We intend to travel right into City Hall in the next two weeks.”
Gusciora is running a back-to-the basics campaign vowing to fill the potholes, clean the streets, take down abandoned properties and promote safe communities if elected mayor.
Annette Horton-Lartigue, who collected 237 votes in her unsuccessful 2018 campaign for mayor, announced earlier this week that she endorses Gusciora in the June 12 runoff election for mayor. She did not attend the Tuesday press conference endorsement rally.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of Ewing also did not attend the endorsement rally Tuesday. She released a statement earlier in the day saying, “I am compelled to clarify that I gave my word in the beginning of this process that I would leave this decision to the voters of Trenton and would not be able to offer an endorsement to any candidate.”
Gusciora on Tuesday described Watson Coleman as a “long-term friend” and said “I want to work with her in the next four years to make sure that federal funding is at an alltime high for the capital city. That’s the support I’m looking for.”
In a world where politicians sometimes change their minds, Watson Coleman still has time to reconsider her position. But even if Gusciora receives an improbable endorsement from the congresswoman for the June 12 runoff, Perez already suggested that any endorsements from establishment figures are insignificant.
“They have a long track record of being together,” Perez said earlier this week of Gusciora and Watson Coleman, “but I wish they would have done more for the city. I don’t know that we’ll see anything different now.”
Perez, a retired Army officer who describes himself as a proven executive, fancies himself as an outsider who will restore good government and end Trenton’s reputation of being a cesspool of cronyism, nepotism and favoritism if elected mayor next month.
TrentoniscurrentlyledbyMayorEricJackson, who declined to seek re-election to a second term.