Princeton prosecutor becomes Trenton’s first openly gay mayor

Reed Gusciora, pictured with Princeton resident Jim Healy (l) celebrates his Trenton mayoral win on Tuesday night at South Rio. Photo: Virginia Kerr. 

Reed Gusciora, the prosecutor for the municipality of Princeton, won the runoff election Tuesday to become the next mayor of Trenton.

Gusciora, who is also a New Jersey Assemblyman, represented Princeton before the municipality was moved to another voting district. He then moved to Trenton to remain an assemblyman in the former district. Gusciora, who is openly gay, sponsored legislation to legalize gay marriage in New Jersey, and has supported legalizing marijuana.

He defeated Paul Perez on Tuesday by 355 votes. Perez was the top vote-getter in the first round of Trenton’s nonpartisan elections last month.

Just over 21 percent of Trenton’s registered voters turned out for the election on Tuesday. Gusciora received 4,500 votes and Perez received 4,135 votes.

In 2003, Gusciora ran for mayor of Princeton in a bitter primary race that divided Democrats. He lost to Joe O’Neill.

Many of Gusciora’s Princeton supporters donated to his campaign to become the mayor of Trenton, and a fundraiser was held for him at a Princeton home a few weeks before the election. Several Princeton supporters headed to South Rio in Trenton on Tuesday night to celebrate Gusciora’s win.

5 Comments

  1. Headline should be…”Serial Pension Abuser Gets Deeper Into Taxpayers Pockets”…How can this guy do three government jobs and be an adjunct college professor?

  2. Ill bet this long time profession politician doesn’t do one positive thing for Trenton. He will talk and talk…and blame others but I am sure he will accomplish nothing. Trenton was just names one of the WORST cities in the US to live…

    Population: 84,065
    Median home value: $86,500
    Poverty rate: 27.8%
    Pct. with at least a bachelor’s degree: 14.8%

    In Trenton, one of the poorest cities in the country, more than one in four residents live in poverty, and the typical household earns just $31,592 a year. Low-income Trenton residents live with additional financial stress as goods and services in the county around the New Jersey state capital are about 18% more expensive than they are on average nationwide.

    Crime is often more common in poor cities, and Trenton is no exception. There were 1,341 violent crimes for every 100,000 Trenton residents in 2016, a crime rate more than five times that of New Jersey.

    1. It’s heaven for those in power chairs, next to sf. The curbcuts are safe and long. Every municipality, especially “you think you are in Vermont” towns, should look at the sidewalks and cuts.

  3. I cant wait to see what this DO NOTHING Pension Abuser will do to stop the black-on-black violence destroying Trenton. Based on his track record…. I will bet NOTHING!

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