Unofficial Results: Jackson is Next Trenton Mayor

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Unofficial results show that Trenton voters have elected Eric Jackson the next mayor of New Jersey's capital city.

The 55-year-old former city public works director was ahead in the runoff election Tuesday with 56 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for former security consultant Paul Perez. All precincts had reported their results.

He is to be sworn in next month and take over from acting Mayor George Muschal. Muschal took office in February after Tony Mack was removed from office following a federal corruption conviction.

Mack is expected to begin serving a four-year, 10-month prison sentence in the coming weeks.

Jackson and Perez both ran promising a clean and transparent government, improving schools and creating jobs.

They were in a runoff after being the top two vote-getters in a six-candidate field in last month's nonpartisan election. No one received more than half the votes in the initial election.

Tuesday's election was the third in four weeks in the city. Besides the May municipal election, there was a U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate primary last week. About one-fourth of voters participated on Tuesday.

Jackson, who had a big lead in fundraising and the support of several of New Jersey's most prominent Democrats, finished first in the initial election.

He presented himself as the candidate with experience in municipal government. Since 2011, Jackson has worked as public works director in Plainfield. He left the Trenton city government after Mack twice reassigned him.

Perez, a Trenton native who served in the Army before working as a Washington-based consultant, moved back to Trenton two years ago. He ran declaring it would take an outsider to clean up the city government.

A major component of running the city of 84,000 is dealing with the state government, which dominates employment. During Mack's time in office, Gov. Chris Christie's administration took a role in hiring high-ranking city officials.

Dwindling state aid also contributed to steep police layoffs in 2011. Crime spiked after the cuts.