Newark Mayor Cory Booker aced the primary in the race for the Democratic nomination to take over  the late Senator Frank Lautenberg’s U.S Senate seat:  Booker is more than a local mayor. He is a national celebrity, hob nobs with the likes of Oprah, does The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert, and his polling numbers were through the roof. Though Frank Pallone, Rush Holt and Sheila Oliver gave it the old college try, Booker was in the touch down zone before anyone could blink.

On Oct. 16, in the general election, Booker will face Tea Party favorite Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, in Bergen County.

“I am going to the U.S. Senate the same way I came to Newark,” Booker said, “to be a positive agent for change.”

Booker received more than 60 percent of the vote; U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6), received about 20 percent; U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12)  about 15 percent, and state Assembly speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34) less than 5 percent.

In the Republican primary, Lonegan won handily with about 90 percent of the vote. against Alieta Eck, a doctor from Somerset County.