Linden Mayor Derek Armstead is planning a campaign for the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark)’s seat and is gathering signatures get himself on the special election ballot, as first reported last night by Insider NJ.
“As we approach the special election in CD-10 on July 16th to fill Congressman Payne’s seat, I humbly seek your support to be placed on the ballot,” Armstead said today on Twitter.
Armstead has until this Friday to submit 200 signatures to run in the 10th congressional district, a majority-Black district based in Newark that encompasses around half of Linden. Payne died last month, prompting Gov. Phil Murphy to schedule a July 16 special election primary (and a September 18 general election) to replace him.
If Armstead does indeed make it on the ballot, he’ll go up against Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver, who has the support of the Essex County Democratic organization and other 10th district power brokers. Brittany Claybrooks, a former East Orange councilwoman and staffer for Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown)’s Senate campaign, is also running; state economic development officer Darryl Godfrey is expected to enter the race as well.
Armstead is the only one of those four candidates from the Union County portion of the district, which makes up a little over one-quarter of the district’s Democratic electorate. (The seat has been held by a Newark politician since Peter Rodino took office in 1949.)
The mayor is not an ally of top Union Democrats, though, so it’s unlikely he’d get much institutional support even in his home county. But in a race with no county lines and no other contests on the ballot, establishment support might not mean as much as it otherwise would – and the more other candidates enter the race, the lower the threshold for winning becomes.
Armstead was first elected mayor in 2014, narrowly unseating independent incumbent Richard Gerbounka in a rematch of their 2010 contest. Armstead had previously served for more than two decades on the Linden City Council.
Congress isn’t the only higher office Armstead has looked at recently; last year, he put out a press release promoting himself as an “attractive candidate” for governor in 2025.