The race for the late Bill Pascrell’s seat in Congress will trigger considerable movement for other offices in Passaic County if Democrats hold the 9th district seat in the general election, possibly including turnover in the legislature for the first time in a dozen years.
All three Democrats from the 35th legislative district are seeking the congressional seat: State Sen. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson), and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson). Two-term Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh is also running.
A Pou victory will trigger a January special election convention to fill her Senate seat on an interim basis; members of the Democratic county committee would pick the new senator in the 35th, which includes Paterson, Haledon, North Haledon, and Prospect Park in Passaic County, and Elmwood Park and Garfield in Bergen County.
Sumter, Wimberly, and Sayegh would be at the top of the list of potential Senate candidates.
A special primary election for the remainder of Pou’s unexpired term would be held in June 2025, and a special general election would occur in November. If county organization lines are abolished for next year’s primary, the interim senator may face a primary challenge.
The winner of the November special election would serve the remaining 25 months of Pou’s term.
If Sumter or Wimberly win the congressional seat – or if one of them moves up to the State Senate – 35th district Democrats would hold a special election convention to immediately fill the open Assembly seat.
Sayegh could run for Assembly; so could Alaa Abdelaziz, a Paterson city councilman and the Democratic municipal co-chair who could make history as the first Palestinian American member of the New Jersey Legislature.
The 35th district, which has not elected a Republican since 1993, is 53% Hispanic, 27% White, and 19% Black.
Since the Assembly is up next year, the convention winner would serve until January 2026.
If there are no lines, there’s no guarantee that the January 2025 special election convention winner will also win the June primary. If Sumter and Wimberly face off in a Democratic Senate primary, two Assembly seats could be up for grabs.
Sayegh’s succession
If Sayegh wins Pascrell’s congressional seat, the new mayor of Paterson, the state’s third-largest city, would be City Council President Alex Mendez. Mendez is under indictment for election fraud connected to his 2020 campaign – he was re-elected earlier this year – and his ascension to the mayor’s office would bring increased attention to the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which has not been able to get the allegations in front of a jury.
The Paterson City Council would have 30 days to select a new interim mayor, but its Mendez allies control a majority of the seats.
Since Paterson holds May non-partisan elections in even-numbered years, a special election for mayor would be held in November 2025, and the winner would serve the remaining eight months of Sayegh’s term.
While Sayegh and Mendez are not allied together, they could be if Mendez sees the mayor’s move to another office in his own interests.