Paterson Mayor André Sayegh will run for New Jersey’s 9th congressional district, adding another prominent name to the field of candidates seeking to replace the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson).
“After careful consideration, it is my intention to pursue the ninth congressional seat,” Sayegh told the New Jersey Globe. “Our nation is at a pivotal point, and we require strong and deliberate representation in Washington. Just like our late and lamented Congressman Bill Pascrell, I come from the Executive branch and know how to fight for my constituents. It’s my hope to deliver the many successes that we have enjoyed in Paterson to the residents of the district.”
Sayegh joins a field that already includes three state legislators from the Paterson-based 35th district: Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson), Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-North Haledon), and State Sen. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon). Two Bergen County candidates, Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Silna Zur (D-Franklin Lakes) and Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park), are considering campaigns as well.
Pascrell’s death on Wednesday at the age of 87 triggered a breakneck campaign to succeed him, one that will be resolved sometime next week when county committeemembers in Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson Counties meet for a convention. Democrats were given little choice but to move quickly, since the deadline to replace Pascrell on the general election ballot is next Thursday, August 29.
Sayegh, a Paterson native, was first elected to the Paterson City Council in 2008; after an initial failed mayoral campaign in 2014, he won the mayor’s office in 2018, becoming the first mayor from the city’s burgeoning Arab American community. He was resoundingly re-elected in 2022 to a second term.
The mayor considered a primary challenge against Pascrell earlier this year, with some of his allies even putting a poll in the field, but he ultimately decided against running. (Pascrell went on to defeat a different mayor from the district, Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah, 74%-26%.)
It’s not clear how much better Sayegh might have done if he had run, but this coming week’s election will be very different, since only a few hundred county committeemembers will be casting votes rather than thousands of primary voters. Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie, howve supporting Sumter and Bergen Democrats still undecided about how they’ll proceed.