Tonight was a long way from the New Democrat days for Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp, the one-time reformer-agitator squirming on the outside of the incubator, who tonight announced his campaign kickoff for a third term as leader of New Jersey’s Queen City with all the main power players and bigwigs of the state lined up behind him.

This event tonight looked like a Hudson County-style fortress of muscled-up Democrats pounding their chests on behalf of Mapp and his “One Plainfield, One Future” mantra. Perhaps it was just as impressive – or maybe more – that longtime allies remained loyally at the side of the Edris Elba lookalike.

“Adrian has answered the call for professional municipal governance,” said Union County Commissioner Rebecca Williams, a fellow New Democrat going back to the days when they had their faces pressed to the window of power, who persevered over the years and mounted the political stairs into the inner sanctum with Mapp.

The head honcho factor at the virtual event came in the form of gushing cameos on Mapp’s behalf by the likes of Governor Phil Murphy, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Speaker Craig Coughlin, Union County Democratic Chairman (and state Senator) Nick Scutari, Assemblywoman Linda Carter, and many others.

Menendez and Booker delivered similar speeches, heavy on the “as a former mayor” motif as a way of lending local heft to their endorsements.

“Filling potholes,” affirmed Coughlin, regarding the specific work product responsibility of the mayor.

A bearded Mapp danced on camera to the delight of his guests, who tried their best to project a ballroom mood in constricted, virtual circumstances.

A native of Barbados, Mapp and his wife Amelia are 40-year residents of Plainfield, who raised their two daughters in the Union County city.

“I am proud to announce I am seeking reelection,” the mayor told his supporters at the kickoff, which doubled as a fundraiser. “I look forward to continuing to work for you: ‘One Plainfield, one Future.'”

Indulging in a rum punch toast to Plainfield, allies at the fiesta described token opposition for the establishment-heavy reelection bid of the onetime leader of the Union County rebellion.