How N.J.’s congressional delegation voted in September

Click here for a web version of the New Jersey Globe’s September 2025 vote tracker, with links to the bills and votes in question, or scroll to the bottom of this article for a PDF version.

Shutdowns

The biggest congressional news of September arrived at 11:59 p.m. on September 30: Congress had failed to pass a spending deal, and the government was shutting down.

Plenty of attempts had been made in the leadup to the deadline to keep the government open, to no avail. On September 19, the House approved a stopgap funding measure that keeps the government open through September 21 on a largely party-line vote; as is typical on such votes, every New Jersey Republican supported the bill and every New Jersey Democrat opposed it.

“[Republicans] passed a clean bill to responsibly keep the government open, protect our veterans and seniors, and give Congress time to finish full-year funding bills,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) said. “Democrats refused. They demanded $1.5 trillion in partisan spending, cuts to rural hospitals, and taxpayer dollars for illegal immigrants. These are the very same people who used to say shutdowns were dangerous and hurt families, but here we are.”

Over in the Senate, however, funding bills can’t just pass on party lines, since a sizable number of Democrats need to sign off on legislation to overcome the filibuster. Republicans have repeatedly put forward their two-month bill, and most Democrats have opposed it; Democrats’ counterproposal, a one-month stopgap that also includes additional funds for health care programs and guardrails against revoking appropriated funds, has repeatedly failed as well.

Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker have voted for their own party’s proposal and against the GOP’s, saying that blame for the shutdown ultimately lies with Republicans.

“President Trump and Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives,” Booker said. “Together, they put forth a budget without any input from Democrats, and repeatedly refused to work across the aisle to negotiate a funding bill that could address the pain their policies have caused and actually earn Democratic support.”

Censures

Heading into September, it looked likely that Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) was set to be the latest member of the House to receive an official censure, a once-rare practice that has become increasingly common as a partisan tool. McIver’s conduct during an oversight visit at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center, a visit that has also prompted federal assault charges against her, had drawn widespread condemnation from the Republicans who control the House.

But on September 3, when Democrats put forward a motion to table the censure resolution, it unexpectedly succeeded, with a small handful of Republicans joining every Democrat in supporting it. (None of those Republicans were from the New Jersey delegation.)

“This whole situation, this whole ordeal, has been a political attack against me since the day I went to Delaney Hall,” McIver said the day after the vote. “I continue to be a critic of this administration, and I think they just want to find different ways to bully me and intimidate me while I’m here. I’m not going to back down.”

The congresswoman will also be able to retain her spot on the House Homeland Security Committee, which would have been stripped from her if the resolution had passed.

McIver wasn’t the only Democrat to face a censure effort; Republicans also attempted to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) over remarks she made about the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Again, though, a small number of Republicans joined with the Democratic caucus to kill the resolution. (Rep. Josh Gottheimer did not vote on the motion, though he had been present for some votes earlier that day.)

Other votes

On the same day that it passed its stopgap funding bill, the House also approved a resolution honoring Kirk’s life and legacy. Republicans were naturally on board with commemorating Kirk, but the question of whether to honor a man most Democrats found odious split the New Jersey Democratic delegation.

Reps. Gottheimer, Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), and Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) supported the pro-Kirk resolution; Reps. McIver, Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) opposed it; and Reps. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) and Donald Norcross (D-Camden) did not vote. Even some Democrats who voted for the resolution, though, expressed discomfort with Kirk’s legacy.

“Charlie Kirk was advocating for a Christian nationalist government and to roll back the rights of women and Black people – this flies in the face of every value I hold dear and that I fight for,” Sherrill said in a statement that received widespread attention online. “But the Constitution protects free speech, even for those I vehemently oppose.”

Another key focus for House Republicans in September: Washington, D.C. crime laws. A number of bills rolling back D.C. criminal justice reforms and implementing new tougher-on-crime policies drew a handful of yes votes from New Jersey Democrats; Gottheimer, Pou, and Sherrill supported one bill that removes limits on police officers conducting car chases, and Conaway voted for another wider-ranging bill targeting youth offenders.

The House passed its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included a number of New Jersey priorities. After several conservative culture-war amendments were added to the bill on the House floor, however, the only four New Jersey members to vote for it were Gottheimer and the state’s three Republicans.

Lastly, the Jeffrey Epstein saga continues to take up oxygen on Capitol Hill; a discharge petition to force a House vote on releasing the Epstein files now has signatures from every New Jersey Democrat (and no New Jersey Republicans), while a norm-breaking Democratic-led effort in the Senate with a similar purpose failed on a close 51-49 vote.