2002 Newark mayoral election

The 2002 election for Mayor of Newark took place in Newark, the most populous city in the state of New Jersey, on May 14, 2002. Elections for all seats on the nine-member Municipal Council of Newark were held the same day. A runoff election, if necessary, would have taken place. Elections in the city are non-partisan and candidates are not listed by political party. Incumbent Mayor and State Senator Sharpe James avoided a runoff and was re-elected to his fifth term in office. He was the first Newark mayor to be elected five times.

This campaign was the subject of the 2005 documentary Street Fight. Cory Booker, who had become a municipal council member in 1998, was elected Mayor of Newark in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. After having won the October 16 special election for U.S. senator he resigned as mayor and was sworn in on October 31, 2013 as the junior U.S. senator from New Jersey. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, ending his campaign three weeks before the first nominating contest, the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.