NEWARK – Running for local office in 2013, Akeem Cunningham audaciously knocked on the door of East Orange Democratic Party Chairman Leroy Jones to try to solicit the vote of the towering behind-the-scenes leader of the opposition.
Jones heard him out, then reasserted himself behind the eventual winning ticket. He didn’t forget about young Cunningham, though, recognizing in the upstart newcomer political energy that reminded him of his own younger self.
Years later, Cunningham, 35, former East Orange football star, son of a single mom, who as a candidate literally rolled out the red carpet as part of his Single Mother’s Appreciation Day, and a union firefighter by trade, serves as the Essex-based regional campaign director for Mikie Sherrill’s coordinated campaign…