NEWARK – Days after he officially announced that he would seek the 20th Legislative District state Assembly seat left vacant by now-Union County Sheriff Joseph Cryan, Roselle Mayor Jamel Holley spoke out about the speech that was the talk of New Jersey’s political world this week: Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State address.
“While [the speech] focused on New Jersey, I think there was more of a feel of a national comparison to New Jersey,” said Holley, 35, a Democrat who is currently in his first term as mayor of the Union County borough after serving two terms on the Borough Council, on Thursday in Newark. “He may be gearing up for [the 2016 presidential campaign], and that’s clearly the message that he wanted to send.”
Christie also sent another message during his speech on Tuesday when he highlighted the progress of Camden, a memo that drew responses from the leaders of New Jersey’s two largest cities, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who were both present.
If Holley is indeed elected to the Assembly in November, he told PolitickerNJ that he wanted “to be a partner” with the governor. But at the same time, Holley sent his own message to Christie.
“I would hope that the governor would recognize that there are other cities in this state that need help,” Holley said, who is running for Assembly in a state legislative district that includes Elizabeth, New Jersey’s fourth largest city. “If he can spread the love with those kind of public-private partnerships, I will be very pleased.”
