Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-North Haledon), a seven-term state legislator with a reputation for outspoken progressivism, will run for the House seat left behind by the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), who died yesterday at the age of 87.
“I’m deeply saddened by the untimely transition of Congressman Bill Pascrell,” Sumter told the New Jersey Globe. “Early in the spring, I raised my hand to say I was interested in the process of running for the congressional seat, but had agreed to respect [Pascrell’s] decision to run again. As this process opens up, it’s my intention to seek support to continue the legacy of working and fighting for New Jersey in Congress.”
Pascrell represented the 9th district, which is based in Paterson and covers parts of Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson Counties, from his first victory in 1996 until his death. He had previously served as the mayor of Paterson and as an assemblyman from the same Paterson-centered legislative district which Sumter now represents.
The process to fill Pascrell’s seat will be an extremely rapid one thanks to the state election calendar, which requires Democrats to choose a new nominee to replace Pascrell on the November ballot by next Thursday, August 29. Democratic county committeemembers from Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson Counties will have to meet for a convention sometime before then to vote on a new nominee; voters themselves won’t be able to weigh in on the process until November, when the new Democratic candidate faces off against Republican Billy Prempeh.
Sumter is the first Democrat to say she’ll run for the seat; she was joined soon afterwards by her own running mate, Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson).
Also potentially in contention are Paterson Mayor André Sayegh; and Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Silna Zur (D-Franklin Lakes). Other state legislators from the district, like Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park), Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), and State Sen. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), might look at campaigns too, and still more candidates could add themselves to the fray as well.
Sumter, a health care professional and former campaign staffer, was first elected to the State Assembly in 2011, and has since become known as one of the state’s most vociferously progressive Democrats. She was considered twice for a spot on Gov. Phil Murphy’s ticket as lieutenant governor – first in 2017, then again in 2023 when Lieutenant Gov. Sheila Oliver died – but didn’t get the nod either time.
Earlier this year, Sumter openly mulled challenging Pascrell, who would have become the oldest member of the House had he been re-elected this year, in the 9th district’s Democratic primary. But both she and Sayegh, who considered a primary campaign as well, decided against it.
Sumter said that if elected to Congress, she would focus on issues like maternal health, reproductive health care, and voting rights. She also insisted that she’s the right person to keep the Democratic-leaning but Republican-trending 9th district in the Democratic column thanks to her background in the health care industry and the state legislature.
“I do believe I’m the right candidate,” she said. “My remarkable career in the New Jersey legislature, which Congressman Pascrell also served in, makes me a very viable candidate to continue his legislative body of work and his connection to people who don’t have that billionaire access – bringing their voice to the halls of Washington.”
If she wins, Sumter would join a growing cohort of women in the New Jersey congressional delegation, which currently stands at two members (Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Mikie Sherrill) but which could soon grow to four if Sue Altman and Newark Council President LaMonica McIver, the Democratic nominees for the 7th and 10th districts, win their races. Either she or Wimberly would also be the first Black person to represent Bergen and Passaic Counties in the House.
It remains to be seen how, exactly, the race for support will shake out among the few hundred county committeemembers who will decide the race. It’s possible that Democratic leaders in the district will make a deal and collectively decide to support one candidate, Sumter or otherwise; it’s also possible that the convention, which has not yet been scheduled, will feature a genuinely competitive race between two or more candidates with their own bases of support.
Sumter, who is in Chicago right now for the Democratic National Convention, said that she’s still figuring out how the next week will go and what her path to victory is.
“I’m learning the rules and the process as we move quickly towards a statutory deadline,” she said. “Trying to meet that deadline and, at the same time, being in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention as a pledged delegate for Vice President Kamala Harris has been nothing short of intense, while at the same time mourning the loss of a legacy public servant and trying to be sure that the work continues.”
This story was updated at 3:39 p.m. with news of Wimberly’s entry into the race.