From Sharpe James, a Tentative Endorsement for Booker

Former Mayor Sharpe James endorsed his onetime political nemesis Mayor Cory Booker for US Senate, although he couldn’t resist taking a jab at the current Newark mayor’s celebrity status.

“He’d be a great U.S. senator for New Jersey,” James said to a crowd gathered at an Ironbound restaurant Monday night, according to PolitickerNJ. “What other senator do you know who sits on Oprah’s couch, and then goes on Jimmy Fallon, and then Conan?”

James, who served time in prison on corruption charges after leaving city hall in 2006, is the father of John Sharpe James, who’s running for the at-large council seat left vacant when Donald Payne was elected to Congress last year. That election will be held in November. 

James defeated Booker when Booker first ran for mayor in 2002, a campaign chronicled in the documentary “Street Fight,” which spotlighted the bare-knuckle tactics James used to win the close race.

Also at the event, held at the Spanish Tavern, was Councilman-at-Large Luis Quintana, who was recently elected president of the city council and appears to be a likely candidate to serve as acting mayor should Booker be elected to the Senate Oct. 16. The acting mayor will be chosen by vote of the nine-member council and will serve until mayoral elections next May. Four candidates -- but not Quintana -- have formally entered the mayor’s race so far.

Booker’s lead against his Republican challenger, Steve Lonegan, is still in the double-digits but has declined sharply in recent weeks as the Booker campaign released its first negative ads against the former Bogota mayor.