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Chris Gadsden
Chris Gadsden was a member of the Jersey City Council in New Jersey, representing Ward B. He assumed office in 2016. He left office in 2017.
Gadsden ran for election for an at-large seat of the Jersey City Council in New Jersey. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.
Biography
Gadsden earned his B.A. in sociology and history from New Jersey City University and his M.A. in education-administration and supervision from Saint Peter’s University. His professional experience includes working as an educator for Jersey City Public Schools. At the time of his 2016 campaign, he was the vice principal at Lincoln High School.[1]
Gadsden and his wife, Petal, have three children. He has been a member of the North Jersey Chapter of National Action Network, Progressive Leadership Opportunities for Tomorrow (P.L.O.T), the Jersey City Chapter of the NAACP, and The Royal Men Foundation.[1]
Elections
2021
See also: City elections in Jersey City, New Jersey (2021)
General election
General election for Jersey City Council At-large (3 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Jersey City Council At-large on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Joyce Watterman (Nonpartisan) | 20.4 | 19,666 |
| ✔ |  | Daniel Rivera (Nonpartisan) | 19.6 | 18,884 |
| ✔ |  | Amy DeGise (Nonpartisan) | 19.0 | 18,386 |
 | Chris Gadsden (Nonpartisan) | 12.2 | 11,760 | |
| June Jones (Nonpartisan) | 10.4 | 10,043 | ||
 | Rolando Lavarro (Nonpartisan) | 9.6 | 9,306 | |
 | Elvin Dominici (Nonpartisan) | 8.6 | 8,271 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 211 | ||
| Total votes: 96,527 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2017
Jersey City, New Jersey, held a runoff election on December 5, 2017 for any race where no candidate earns a majority of the votes cast in the general election on November 7, 2017. Mira Prinz-Arey defeated incumbent Chris Gadsden in the runoff election for the Ward B city council seat.
| Jersey City Council, Ward B Runoff Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Mira Prinz-Arey |
60.84% | 1,597 |
| Chris Gadsden Incumbent | 39.16% | 1,028 |
| Total Votes | 2,625 | |
| Source: Hudson County Clerk, "Runoff Election Results," December 12, 2017 | ||
Jersey City, New Jersey, held a general election for mayor, three at large city council seats, and six by district city council seats on November 7, 2017. Any race where no candidate earns a majority of the votes cast in the general election advanced to the runoff election on December 5, 2017. Mira Prinz-Arey and incumbent Chris Gadsden defeated Jessica Hellinger in the general election for the Ward B city council seat.[2]
| Jersey City Council, Ward B General Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Mira Prinz-Arey |
49.45% | 1,990 |
| Chris Gadsden Incumbent |
37.65% | 1,515 |
| Jessica Hellinger | 12.82% | 516 |
| Write-in votes | 0.07% | 3 |
| Total Votes | 4,024 | |
| Source: Hudson County Clerk, "General Election 2017 Election Results," November 14, 2017 | ||
2016
| Jersey City City Council Ward B, Special Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Chris Gadsden |
46.88% | 2,416 |
| John Hallanan III Incumbent | 40.03% | 2,063 |
| LeKendrick Shaw | 12.94% | 667 |
| Write-in votes | 0.16% | 8 |
| Total Votes | 5,154 | |
| Source: Hudson County Clerk, "Official election results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Chris Gadsden did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Gadsden's Facebook page highlighted the following campaign themes:[3]
Recreation
- Excerpt: "We need a better partnership between the Jersey City Department of Recreation and the Jersey City Public Schools to keep our schools open after the instructional day and throughout the year. Our youth need to be engaged with more constructive activities. We need to employ additional staff to supervise and mentor young people. We want to advertise, support, and create activities and programs throughout the city that will engage youth in sports, arts, academic support, economic empowerment, internships, and mentorship. These efforts will keep out youth safe and productive."
Community Policing
- Excerpt: " I am in support of a community policing philosophy emphasizes that police officers work closely with local citizens and community agencies in designing and implementing a variety of crime prevention strategies and problem-solving measures. We have to rely upon community-based crime prevention by utilizing civilian education, neighborhood watch, and a variety of other techniques, as opposed to relying solely on police patrols. We have to re-structure patrol from an emergency response based system to emphasizing proactive techniques such as foot patrol. Increased officer accountability to civilians they are supposed to serve."
Cure Violence Model
- Excerpt: " I am a proponent of the Cure Violence Model. The Cure Violence model trains and deploys outreach workers and violence interrupters to mitigate conflict on the street before it turns violent. These interrupters are credible messengers, trusted members of the communities served, who use their street credibility to model and teach community members better ways of communicating with each other and how to resolve conflicts peacefully."
Barber Shop Initiative
- Excerpt: " The barbershop is a place of safety and they have the ear of the community. I want to set up a network of barbershops to work together to help monitor and help young men deal with conflict, give them additional people to confide in, and a place to receive resources."
Quality of Life Enforcement
- Excerpt: " We have to build effective neighborhood watch groups and better organize block associations. We have to work together to help enforce ordinances that are already on the books. Certain streets in the ward are dirty from litter to fecal matter. We have to advocate for increase funding for staffing to enforce quality of life infractions. We have to become more accountable for the cleanliness of our city."
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Chris Gadsden Jersey City. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
2021 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 chrislgadsden.com, "Official campaign website," accessed October 20, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia, "Email correspondance with Irene McNulty, Jersey City Deputy City Clerk," September 13, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Chris L. Gadsden," accessed October 20, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Hallanan III |
Jersey City City Council, Ward B 2016-2017 |
Succeeded by Mira Prinz-Arey |
| |||||||||
