87-year-old Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), the second-oldest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, remains hospitalized in intensive care and receiving breathing assistance ten days after checking himself into a St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson on July 14 with a fever, and his medical condition is more serious than had been initially revealed.
“While recovering from a respiratory infection in the hospital, Congressman Pascrell had a setback. Since then, the medical professionals at St Joe’s have given the congressman breathing assistance and are monitoring his condition. Doctors tell us he continues to improve and remain hopeful for a complete recovery,” said Ben Rich, his chief of staff. “He is currently devouring CNN for fresh Harris campaign news.”
The fourteen-term Democrat is fully conscious.
Despite his age, Pascrell has remained largely feisty and dynamic during his recent terms in Congress.
On July 15 – the day after Pascrell entered the hospital – Rich said he spoke to his boss in the morning and found him to be “in good spirits.”
“He also told us he is actively looking for a beer if anyone can help,” Rich said.
Four days later, Rich told the New Jersey Globe that Pascrell was doing well.
“Congressman Pascrell was treated with antibiotics and no longer has a fever, which was possibly caused by a respiratory infection, and he is being monitored by doctors awaiting a clean bill of health,” Rich said. “He thanks the medical professionals at St. Joe’s providing his care and is eager to return to his duties.”
But Pascrell’s situation worsened over the weekend.
The congressman has missed 35 roll call votes in the House so far this week and did not participate in a virtual meeting of the New Jersey delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening.
But to put that into perspective, he has participated in 97% of the roll call votes during the current congressional session and will miss just four days of work this week; starting tomorrow afternoon, Congress will be out of session until September, giving Pascrell time to recuperate and campaign for re-election.
Pascrell is seeking re-election to a fifteenth term this fall. With the retirement of Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-California), who is 52 days older, if he wins, he will become the oldest House member. By the time his next term ends, Pascrell would be just 22 days shy of his 90th birthday.
In 2022, Pascrell won the closest re-election campaign of his career in a remapped district that was designed to boost the re-election prospects of two neighboring Democratic House members, Josh Gottheimer in the 5th district and Mikie Sherrill in the 11th, by adding several Republican towns to Pascrell’s 9th district.
Pascrell defeated Republican Billy Prempeh, a U.S. Air Force veteran, that year by a 55%-44% margin. He carried the Bergen County portion of the 9th by a narrow 50%-49%, but won Passaic County by 61%-38% and the district’s small part of Hudson County 58%-40%.
The new district went for Joe Biden by 19 points in 2020 and Phil Murphy by eight points in 2021.
Under the old map, Pascrell beat Prempeh by 34 points in 2020; Prempeh is mounting his third challenge to Pascrell this year.
A self-proclaimed late bloomer, the former high school history teacher was 50 when first elected to the New Jersey State Assembly in 1987, 53 when he became mayor of Paterson in 1990, and 59 when he narrowly defeated freshman Rep. Bill Martini (R-Clifton) in 1996.
He fended off retirement rumors this year by announcing his re-election bid in March 2023.
Still, younger Democrats, including Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh and Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson), openly mulled primary challenges against him. Neither ended up launching campaigns, but Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah did, becoming the avatar for the local Muslim community’s frustration with Pascrell over his stances on Israel and Palestine; Pascrell beat him 76%-24%.
Pascrell is the second New Jersey House member to have serious health issues in recent months.
In April, Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark)’s office acknowledged a “cardiac episode” but painted a rosy picture of his outlook, saying his “prognosis is good.” In reality, Payne had suffered a heart attack and was on a ventilator, remaining unconscious for eighteen days before he died on April 24 at age 65.