New Jersey Democrats once again flex their power in choosing Pascrell replacement

The late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) had not yet been buried before his heir apparent became, well, apparent.

In the days after the fiery 87-year-old congressmember’s death, four seasoned elected officials opted to run in an ultra-abbreviated contest to replace him as the 9th Congressional District’s Democratic nominee this November.

Then the three Democratic chairs of the counties that make up the North Jersey district settled on a consensus choice, once again showing the influence of a handful of party bosses while voters haven’t even had time to digest the news — though timing and state law forced a quick process.

They backed state Sen. Nellie Pou, a 27-year lawmaker whose calm, pleasant demeanor stands in stark contrast to the cantankerous Pascrell.

Pou also gave New Jersey’s Hispanic communities another foothold in power following the corruption conviction and resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, the state’s most politically prominent Latino ever. Pou has chaired the state’s legislative Latino caucus since 2006 and is the former president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators.

Pascrell died Wednesday, Aug. 21. Within a few days, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh and Assemblymembers Shavonda Sumter and Benjie Wimberly jumped into the race to succeed him. Their candidacies were short lived: On Monday, Sayegh dropped out, citing the “current political circumstances.” On Tuesday, Sumter followed. And on Wednesday, Wimberly became the final Pou rival to leave the race.

By the time low-level county party officials from the district convened in Wayne on Thursday evening, the planned convention had basically become Pou’s coronation, with even Gov. Phil Murphy and Pascrell’s family endorsing her.

“The Pascrell family is pleased that Nellie Pou will carry the Democratic banner in the Ninth District,” they said in a statement. “Senator Pou is a worthy heir to carry on Congressman Pascrell’s important work on behalf of the great people of Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties. We know our father would be happy to see Senator Pou succeed him and so are we.”

New Jersey’s political boss system has faced criticism before. But less in this case, since Pascrell died two-and-a-half months after the primary. His succession process, and the Aug. 29 deadline to choose a replacement, was dictated by state law. And despite the rushed process, Pascrell’s seat will remain empty until January.

In the state Legislature, Pou has been a reliable vote for the Democratic caucus. She was the top sponsor on legislation to ban child marriage in the state in all circumstances, which made New Jersey only the second state in the nation to do so when it became law in 2018. She was also the top legislative sponsor of a bill that allowed for the early release of certain incarcerated people that were near the end of their sentences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On federal issues, Pou sponsored symbolic resolutions in the state Legislature urging Congress to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program when the Trump administration tried to end the program and another resolution that sought funding for affordable housing funding in the federal Build Back Better legislation.

In an interview with POLITICO Friday morning, Pou described herself as a “moderate progressive.”

“There are a number of key issues with respect to health care, with respect to social justice, with respect to the economy, in terms of making sure that someone … is able to be able to afford buying a home, but also are paid decent wages in order to ensure that they can maintain that home,” Pou said when asked on what she plans to advocate on in Congress. “So we're talking about basic everyday living ability so that they can be able to provide a stable location for them and or their families.”

During a recent debate — when there were still several declared candidates in the race — Pou said that she “would be supportive of the green new bill” when asked about the Green New Deal and that “there ought to be Medicare for all.” Pou, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, also told POLITICO that she supports statehood for Puerto Rico.

The 9th Congressional District has one of the largest Palestinian American populations in the country – Pascrell beat a primary challenger who ran a campaign largely focused on a ceasefire in the war. When asked if there should be conditions on military aid to Israel, Pou told POLITICO “I think that we should continue the arrangements that we currently have” that is at “the very same level of financial support.”

“I'm a supporter of Israel, absolutely,” she said. “I do think it's important for us to ensure that the people of Gaza that are being impacted by that, we should be very careful not to impact anyone that is not part of the Hamas terrorist group.”

Pou said that “any kind of pause” in the war in Gaza should be “done on the basis of making sure that all the hostages” held by Hamas are released.

Billy Prempeh, the Republican who will face Pou in November, said he’d like to see the process for filling vacancies change, and that his own plan to limit members of Congress to 10 years in office would have avoided the scramble following the death of Pascrell after nearly 28 years in office.

“The process is pretty undemocratic. Now we have two candidates, Nellie and Kamala Harris, who were given the role without any vote by the Democratic voters at all,” Prempeh said.

“At the absolute very least, the party bosses should have stayed out of it. They shouldn’t have gone to the media and made these statements. They acted as kingmakers.”

Asked if the chairs should have avoided weighing in to let the rank-and-file Democratic committee members decided independently, Passaic County Democratic Chair John Currie — Sumter’s godfather — paraphrased the Bible.

“When you don’t have a leader, you perish,” Currie said in a phone interview. “You try to stop chaos.”

Pou enters the general election heavily favored against Prempeh, who’s run twice before. Prempeh lost to Pascrell in 2020 by 34 points and in 2022 by 11 points, though that margin was closer largely due to redistricting changes that made the 9th less Democratic-dominated but still Democratic-leaning.