New Jersey will hold a special election this summer to fill the remainder of the late U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr.’s unexpired term, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday.
Payne, 65, a Newark native who represented New Jersey’s 10th congressional district, died in office on April 24. His funeral was held Thursday.
Murphy signed an order calling for a July 16 primary and a Sept. 18 general election.
The special election will be to fill the final few months of Payne’s sixth term. It is separate from the already scheduled November election for the seat’s next two-year term, which begins in January.
The district includes the state’s largest city, Newark, and surrounding areas, including parts of Essex, Hudson, and Union counties.
It will be up to Democratic committee members in the district to choose a new nominee to run in the regular November election. Leroy Jones, chairman of the State Democratic Committee, is also the Essex County Democratic chair. Jones spoke at Payne’s funeral on Thursday.
The committee has traditionally selected whomever has won past special elections by popular vote, but that’s not guaranteed.
The scenario is similar to 2012 when U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Sr. — Payne’s father — died in office at age 77 of colon cancer. Payne Jr., then a president of Newark’s council and an Essex County freeholder, won a special election for the remainder of his father’s term and a general election for the seat’s next two-year term.
Hours before Murphy’s announcement, Rev. Charles Boyer of Salvation and Social Justice, a high-profile advocacy organization, called on Murphy to hold a special election to “honor Payne’s legacy” in fighting for a district that is home to some of the largest concentrations of Black and Hispanic residents.
“It is the only way to prevent the seat from being decided by a few power brokers in back rooms, who may have their own agendas and interests,” Boyer said in an opinion piece published by the New Jersey Globe.
Potential candidates for the seat include, among others, state Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, state Sen. Britnee Timberlake, Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver, Newark Councilman Patrick Council, and Essex County Commissioner A’Dorian Murray-Thomas, sources have told NJ Advance Media.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
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Jelani Gibson is a cannabis and politics reporter for NJ.com. He can be reached at jgibson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @jelanigibson1 and on LinkedIn.
