The Ras Baraka Team issued a special holiday message to residents, confirming what sources spoke

about for months: namely the replacement on the ticket of Recreation Director (and South Ward Democratic Chairman) Pat Council for South Ward Councilman John Sharpe James.

Council is a longtime ally of Baraka, who will look to keep the seat in the mayor’s camp with a 2022 win over challenger Terrance Bankston.

Also, the mayor’s at-large slate is solidified as Louise Rountree (in place of incumbent Eddie Osborne), Larry Crump and longtime incumbents Luis Quintana and Carlos Gonzalez.

The South Ward Newark Councilman since 2013 (he claimed the seat after former South Ward Councilman Donald Payne became a congressman; and won it in 2014), James as part of his two decades-plus military career served a one year tour of combat duty in Afghanistan from September 2007 through September 2008 as an Infantry Ground Commander against the Taliban and Anti-Coalition Forces. He received the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in an IED attack.

He ran for an at-large council seat in 2010 on a ticket that included Baraka as the South Ward candidate.

Baraka won, James lost.

Then James came back in 2014 to run successfully for the South Ward seat when Baraka ran for mayor and won.

As part of the ticket, and as already reported here and elsewhere, rapper/community activist DoItAll Kelly will run for Team Baraka in the West Ward, in place of disgraced Councilman Joe McCallum; and former Police Office Louis Weber will run in the East Ward in place of the retiring Augusto “Augie” Amador.

Both the West and the East Wards contain multiple candidates for the seat.