A black man, a brown man, and a gay man walk into a bar…

TRENTON — It’s a three-way sprint to replace Eric Jackson to become Trenton's next mayor. Jackson’s four-year tenure has been lackluster and uninspiring. But at least he didn’t end up in the clink like his predecessor. It’s a pretty low bar for sure.

Polls show a tight race between Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, Paul Perez, and Walker Worthy. Gusciora has represented Trenton in the state house for decades. Mr Perez and Mr Worthy, both vanquished by Mayor Jackson in 2014, are back taking their second shot to lead New Jersey’s capital city.

Trenton has long languished under a series of mayors who failed to capitalize on Trenton’s vast potential.

“Trenton deserves better,” Perez for Mayor chairman Martin Perez told InsiderNJ on a sun-drencehd sidewalk in the shadow of Friendship Baptist Church. We chatted  here because inside was too busy, with a dozen or more volunteers phone-banking in both English and Spanish.

“It’s time to feel proud of our capital city,” Mr Perez added. “This team is ready, we expect to win and for Paul to bring that change.”

A few blocks away, Walker Worthy’s volunteers were sending out a canvas of union carpenters. Their campaign headquarters looked a shambles: walk packets, ubiquitously sheathed in those orange manila envelopes, those packets were strewn everywhere. Duncan Donuts detritus too. And too many empty pizza boxes to count. A controlled chaos.

That’s exactly how a busy campaign HQ ought to look.

“So far we think turnout looks good. We got out the districts we need so far,” Walker spox Danny Knitzer told InsiderNJ.

If you leave Worthy HQ and swing a left at Starbucks you’ll find Gusciora and his team dispatching a large contingent of volunteers to West Trenton. For candidate Gusciora, it was a moment of calm before the storm.

“I feel good. I’m excited,” Gusciora told InsiderNJ “But I’m also nervous and a little anxious. This has been a huge investment since February.”

Gusciora noted how a race for mayor differs from his many state assembly victories.

“It’s a lot different from a legislative campaign with 400,000 constituents, many towns and cities. Here in Trenton it’s block by block. Issues vary block by block,” Gusciora said.

But some issues that matters on every block: filling potholes, plowing snow, getting trash out of the alleys.

“Cleanup,” Gusciora said “I engage votes on those issues especially.”

Reminds me of something Harvey Milk once said. He, the first (out) gay man elected to office in the US. He served on San Francisco’s  Board of Supervisors until his assassination in 1978.

“Whoever can solve the dogshit problem [in the city] can be elected mayor of San Francisco, even president of the United States,” Milk asserted.

It was about more than just dogshit. In this instance, dogshit is a metaphor for how government neglect diminishes our quality of life.

The Milk reference is especially apt in this instance because Reed Gusciora made his own history as Trenton’s first “out” legislator. Walker is black and Perez is hispanic. It’s hard not to  notice the identity politics in the race. That said, this race seems devoid of any acrimony. Nobody got nasty.

Checking in on each of these campaigns today, I’m mostly struck by their many similarities. Everyone seemed anxious but really excited. They’re all tired but wired.  And everyone we spoke with today had that same trail-weary expression.

Unless someone gets 50%+1 today, we’re going to a runoff. FYI, There’s probably gonna be a runoff. We won’t likely know the winner for a while. But tonight we’ll definitely know who’s out. Someone goes home tonight. And everyone  knows it. Each of these operatives is animated by that sheer terror of not having a job tomorrow.