Trenton mayoral runoff election underway

The runoff election to decide who will be Trenton’s next mayor is underway. The polls are open 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

On May 13, none of the six candidates attracted the minimum 50 percent of the vote needed to win outright. In  this runoff, voters will choose between the top-two vote-getters Eric Jackson and Paul Perez. The winner of today’s election will take office July 1.

The candidatesEric Jackson is the director of public works and urban development in Plainfield, N.J., about 35 miles northeast of Trenton. He previously was working for the city of Trenton in various positions including once as head of public works. Jackson ran for mayor of Trenton in 2010 coming in third behind Manuel Segura and Tony Mack.

Paul Perez has spent most of his career in the U.S. military, including 15 years as a special agent for the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigations Command (CIC), which investigates all felony-level crimes in the military. Born in Trenton, Perez still has a house in Alexandra, Va., where he is CEO of the government consulting firm The Protective Realm. He has said he would move to Trenton, if elected.

Both candidates have been rolling out endorsements from local and state leaders. Jackson has received the backing of many top Democrats. Both men pledge to run a clean city government. 

The city’s acting mayor, George Muschal, did not run in this election. Muschal took over in February after Mayor Tony Mack was removed from office after being convicted on fraud and extortion charges. He was sentenced last month to four years and 10 months in jail.