New Jersey will hold its first free-standing special election for the U.S. House of Representatives since 1950 when Democrat LaMonica McIver and Republican Carmen Bucco face off for the unexpired term of Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) on Wednesday, September 18.
New Jersey’s 10th district is one of the most solidly Democratic in the nation – Joe Biden won it by 63 percentage points in 2020 – and McIver, the Newark city council president, is the odds-on favorite to win the seat.
So far, 9,109 vote-by-mail ballots have been cast, with 83% of them coming from registered Democrats, according to an analysis from Ryan Dubicki, an Associated Press election researcher. Unaffiliated voters have sent back 9% of the VBMs, with 8% from Republicans. That represents a voter turnout of roughly 1.7%.
A nine-day early voting period begins on Sunday, September 8 and will continue until Monday, September 16.
Depending on certification and House schedules, McIver could be in the seat by the end of the month.
Payne died on April 24 at age 65.
The last free-standing special congressional election in New Jersey was on February 6, 1950.
Rep. J. Parnell Thomas (R-Allendale), a seven-term incumbent, resigned on January 2 after being convicted of putting his secretary’s niece and her maid on his staff payroll and had them kick back their entire salaries to him.
In an era when elections moved more swiftly, both parties nominated candidates – Assemblyman William Widnall (R-Saddle River) for the Republicans and East Paterson (now Elmwood Park) Mayor John English for the Democrats. Widnall won the seat by a 2-1 margin. Turnout was about 58% less than it was in the 1950 general election, when Widnall won a full two-year term with 70% against former Hackensack Democratic Municipal Chairman Emil Wulster.
Wulster had first run for office in 1930, at age 22, when he lost a bid for Bergen County freeholder. He lost a close race for State Assembly in 1931, and then won 31% of the vote in a 1942 run for Congress against Thomas.