Democrats will elect new senator, assemblymember on Thursday

Democrats in Passaic and Bergen counties plan to fill a State Assembly vacancy in the 35th district on Thursday evening, a largely unprecedented maneuver that could result in a court challenge.

The election of Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) to Congress has prompted a game of musical chairs: Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson) and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) are facing off for the Senate; so far, there are no other candidates.

That would create an Assembly vacancy, and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie wants to fill it the same night to avoid a second county committee meeting this winter.

Paterson City Councilman Al Abdelaziz, the city’s Democratic municipal chairman; Paterson School Board Vice President Kenneth Simmons; Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah; and former Paterson Deputy Mayor Derya Taskin participated in a Passaic County screening committee this month.  There are unconfirmed reports that Taskin has withdrawn.

A group of election law experts have widely differing views of the legality of an immediate contest for the Assembly, but the consensus is that a judge might be hesitant to invalidate an election when the law is unclear.

That would require the winner to resign from the Assembly immediately, creating a vacancy in the lower house before a second special election convention could proceed.  New Jersey state law does not permit the prospective filling of vacancies; if it did, Pou could have submitted a resignation letter in November, effective at 11:59 AM on January 3, and the race for her seat could have been over a month ago.

The senator-elect will have an interruption of service and will be out of office as they await the next Senate session, probably for a couple of weeks.  It’s possible that the new Assembly member will take office before the senator.

County committee members will have the option of attending the convention in person, or voting virtually.

Former Garfield Councilman Romi Herrara is running for Assembly in the June primary on Steve Fulop’s slate.

Sumter or Wimberly would become the eighth member of the current Senate to move up from the Assembly and trigger the scheduling of another vote at a later date.  Several dozen Assembly members have won special elections to the Senate over the years, requiring a second vote.

On March 9, 2021, following the death of State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest), Holly Schepisi (R-River Vale) and Bob Auth (R-Old Tappan) faced off for the Senate seat.  Schepisi won, and resigned from the Assembly fifteen days later; one week later, the Republican county committee met to fill her Assembly seat.