Political figure Sharpe James was born in New Jersey on February 20, 1936, and died on May 11, 2025. He represented New Jersey’s 29th legislative district from 1999 to 2008 as a Democrat and was Newark’s mayor from 1986 to 2006. Street Fight, a 2005 film about James’s surprisingly tight mayoral election with Cory Booker, depicts his time as Newark’s longest-serving mayor. His 2008 conviction for high-profile corruption ended his New Jersey political career.
Sharpe James Obituary : His Biography and Legal Legacy
Sharpe James Beginnings of formal education
In Jacksonville, Florida, Louis and Beulah (née Sharpe) James welcomed a son called James on February 20, 1936. His father died before James was born, and his mother remarried and moved to Newark in 1940, where he grew up. He became a certified teacher after graduating from South Side (now Malcolm X Shabazz) High School and earning degrees in teaching and physical education from Montclair State University and Springfield College.
He attended Columbia, Rutgers, and Washington State after winning the 1961 Department of Physiology Award. He served in Germany with the US Army. After leading Essex County College, James entered politics. He held positions as an instructor, sports director, and lecturer.
Sharpe James’s Political career
Local government
James initially became a South Ward councilman in 1970. He comfortably gained reelection to the council in 1974, defeating his only opponent ten-to-one. He became the first ward councilman elected at-large in 1982 and was re-elected in 1978. Although he was a councilman, he led the New Jersey Black and Hispanic delegation. He led a 1977 Concorde landing ban at Newark International Airport, claiming it would exacerbate air and noise pollution. In 1983, Phil Donahue called Newark “a place foreigners wouldn’t want to visit”; James promptly demanded an apology. Donahue emailed James to apologize for the insult.
Sharpe James The Newark mayor
James ran for mayor of Newark in 1988, challenging fourth-term incumbent Kenneth A. Gibson on January 30, 1986. James was sworn in on July 1 after winning the May 13 election. He was the first Newark mayor to run unopposed in 1990 and earn landslide wins in 1994 and 1998. With his record fifth term confirmed in 2002, James became Newark’s longest-serving mayor.
In the prior year, the New Jersey Conference of Mayors named him “Mayor of the Year.” The 2005 film Street Fight featured his 2002 reelection campaign against Councilman Cory Booker. James won the race despite significant criticism of his racist and homophobic statements, including a Booker slur, during a public altercation.
James was known for his public jogging outfits and efforts to attract developers to downtown Newark in his first few years in office. Newark completed the highly acclaimed New Jersey Performing Arts Center in 1997. “Machine politics” described James. Abusing police authority, intimidating opponents’ supporters, and denigrating their background were his controversial campaign tactics.
Sharpe James chaired Jesse Jackson’s 1988 Democratic presidential campaign in New Jersey from 1987 to 1988. As one of fifteen New Jersey electoral college electors, James supported Clinton/Gore in December 1992.
Jackie Mattison, James’s chief of staff, was charged with federal bribery in 1996 after a Millburn insurance salesman gave her over $17,000. The federal court sentenced him to 41 months. He got parole in 2000.
James’ 1990s housing strategy was to demolish Newark’s massive, mostly empty housing complexes and develop smaller public housing or market-rate middle-class dwellings. James offered to aid New York City and Jersey City following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Sharpe James strongly supported the Devils’ 2006 transfer to Newark. The newest arena, the Prudential Center, is located in Newark. On March 16, eleven days after filing for reelection as mayor, James said he would not run again.
Sharpe James State lower house
James was appointed to the New Jersey Senate in June 1999 to complete Wynona Lipman’s term as mayor and re-elected in November 2000. Re-elected to a full term in November 2001, he held both roles. His Senate district covered part of Newark in Essex County and all of Hillside in Union County.
James was assistant senate majority leader under Bernard Kenny from 2004 to 2005 and Democratic leader from 2002 to 2003. In 2004, James served as the deputy chairman of the Senate Budget Committee following Senator Wayne R. Bryant’s corruption indictment in March 2007. James gave up his seat in the state senate on April 9, 2007, after eight years.
Sharpe James, the longest-serving mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has died at 89.
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin.bsky.social) 2025-05-12T17:22:12.123Z
Sharpe James Corruption and abuse of power
Probe accusations and federal prosecution
City Hall gave James a debit card in 2002, and in 2005, OPRA requested that he return it. James spent about $70,000 on the card in two years covered by the OPRA request. James used a Newark Police Department credit card to pay for numerous $80,000 trips in August 2006, according to an OPRA request. In June, a vacation to Rio de Janeiro cost $6,500.
On August 21, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie issued bank document subpoenas. “As the last of the civil rights mayors in America, I had to travel and sell this city and the world on the Newark success story,” James said, denying wrongdoing. The federal authorities investigated James’ suspected misbehavior in September.
In March 2007, federal officials subpoenaed James’ contact with his girlfriend and ex-store operator Tamika Riley, who reportedly gained hundreds of thousands of dollars by flipping municipal assets. Later in June, the U.S. Attorney’s office opened a second inquiry into identical allegations.
On July 12, a federal grand jury accused James of 33 federal charges, including mail fraud and conspiracy. Christie told a press conference that James tricked Riley into buying nine city residences in a “cut-rate scheme” between 2001 and 2005. He said he and eight other women used James’s city-issued credit cards to go out of state between 2001 and 2006. James pleaded not guilty at arraignment.
Sharpe James Conviction and sentence
James’ trial started February 26, 2008. His lawyers said James had not breached any federal laws. Prosecutors revealed James’ first-week testimony on Senate Bill 967, which he sponsored in 2004 to amend the Faulkner Act. They said James wanted the bill enacted to gain power and unfairly enrich himself. However, the defense argued that James was acting properly as a senator and should have been given immunity.
According to more than a dozen papers provided by prosecutors on March 5 about property negotiations, James monitored whether city developers he knew were buying the homes. James’ longtime secretary, Rose Marie Posella, testified that he routinely met with developers in his Newark City Hall office, which the prosecution used to buttress their case.
She said that City Hall knew James and Tamika Riley were cheating because Riley had unique access to James. Former councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, who testified for the defense on April 1, said James was not involved in the city council’s process of setting a price for city-owned land for redevelopers.
Judge Bill Martini of the US District Court sentenced James to 27 months in prison, despite prosecutors’ 15-to-20-year request.
After starting deliberations on April 8, the jury convicted James guilty on all counts on April 16. The U.S. Attorney’s office dropped James’ remaining charges for misusing his city-issued credit card on May 12. A second trial was avoided. After Judge Bill Martini affirmed the convictions on July 23, James received a 27-month sentence and a $100,000 fine on July 29.
The prosecution wanted James to spend 15–20 years in jail, but Martini contended that his public service justified a shorter sentence. Tamika Riley was convicted of five felonies and eight more, including tax evasion. In September 2008, the Bureau of Prisons reported James to FCI Petersburg, Virginia, instead of Fort Dix, New Jersey, to serve his sentence.
Release from incarceration and legal action
Alan Bowman tried to have an appellate court delete the convictions in June 2009 but failed. On April 6, 2010, James was released early after 18 months. A court ruling permanently prohibited him from public office. James appealed his convictions seven days after his release. The September 2010 ruling overturned one of his convictions but upheld the other four. By appealing, he claimed one jury was dishonest and tried to overturn the verdicts. This appeal was denied in February 2013.
The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission sued James and his campaign treasurer, Cheryl Johnson, in 2011. They were accused of illegally using $94,000 from campaign funds for legal fees. On August 17, 2012, the New Jersey Superior Court upheld the commission and ordered James and Johnson to refund. In January 2015, a state appeals court upheld the higher court’s verdict and denied James’s appeal.
When they were running against each other for mayor, Sharpe James called Cory Booker a “faggot white boy” and WON. I had my students watch “Street Fight” the documentary about that election and they were SHOOK.
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity.bsky.social) 2025-05-12T15:52:27.312Z
Sharpe James’ career after prison
While in 2013, James published Political Prisoner, a 17-chapter book he authored while in prison. John Sharpe His son James was elected to the Newark Municipal That year, he advised his son James’s campaign for election to the Newark Municipal Council. to replace Frank Lautenberg in the same year—Booker having been James’s 2002 Newark mayoral opponent.
Sharpe James sought at-large Newark City Council representation in 2022 despite a court injunction banning him. Newark City Clerk Kenneth Louis denied his certification on March 3, 2022. James sued when his candidacy was disallowed, saying he may compete for public office but not serve. After a judge dismissed his case, James did not appeal.
Sharpe James Honor and praise
Sharpe James received the Honorary Doctor of Laws from Montclair State University in 1988 and the Honorary Doctorate from Drew University in 1991.
Sharpe James’s death and life
James’ wife, Mary, had three children with him. He died at a West Orange, New Jersey, nursing home on May 11, 2025, aged 89.
Honoring Sharpe James
In moments like these, we feel the loss deeply. Sharpe James had a profound impact on many lives.
If you have any memories or thoughts to share, please feel free to leave a comment below. Let’s come together to remember and celebrate his life.
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