Newark mayor Cory Booker ’91 M.A. ’92 became the first African-American senator to represent the state of New Jersey when he won a U.S. Senate special election on Wednesday.

In the special election, called by Governor Chris Christie to fill the seat of the recently deceased Frank Lautenberg, Booker defeated Republican Steve Lonegan, a former small-town mayor. Booker will serve the remaining 15 months on Lautenberg’s term and is expected to run for reelection in 2014.

As mayor of Newark, Booker gained recognition for securing a $100 million pledge from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to fund city programs and for public feats such as saving a woman from a house fire and shoveling a resident’s driveway.

Booker was also the keynote speaker at Stanford’s 2012 commencement.