It's James by a Landslide for Newark Council

Another Newark political dynasty began to take shape Tuesday night when voters overwhelmingly selected John Sharpe James to serve on the city council.

The son of former Mayor Sharpe James, James, a lawyer and decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan, will fill the unexpired term of former at-large Councilman Donald Payne, who left the council last year after winning the 10th District Congressional seat.

The council seat had been vacant for nearly a year after an unsuccessful attempt by former Mayor Cory Booker - - who became US Senator in a special election last month -- tried to break a 4-4  council tie to fill Payne’s seat. Many observers believe Booker was attempting to thwart the ambitions of James. Booker and the elder James were bitter political rivals dating back to at least 2003, when Booker lost to James in Booker’s first bid for mayor.

John Sharpe James received nearly 12,000 votes, versus about 3,700 votes apiece for James’s challengers, Yvonne Garrett Moore and Lynda Lloyd, according to a preliminary tally by the Essex County Clerk’s Office.

A seat still remains open on the nine-member council, however. On Monday Councilman-at-Large Luis Quintana was named interim mayor, and will serve until July 1, 2014, a few months after the next mayoral election. Quintana was chosen for the post after Booker's election to the US Senate.