McIver endorses slate of Assembly candidates, including Tucker, Sampson, Walker

A few days out from Election Day, Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) has issued Democratic primary endorsements in seven legislative districts spanning her 10th congressional district, including in a handful of districts with contentious and heavily contested races.

In Hudson County’s 31st district, McIver is supporting Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker (D-Jersey City) and Assemblyman William Sampson (D-Bayonne), the Hudson County Democratic Organization’s choices for the legislature. They’re running against a slate aligned with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop that includes the district’s other incumbent, Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Jersey City).

McIver’s endorsement of Walker comes in spite of the fact that, less than a year ago, the two politicians were running against one another for the same congressional seat; McIver ultimately won that Democratic primary easily, though Walker did carry the district’s portion of Jersey City.

And in the Newark-based 28th district, McIver is supporting only Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) in a three-way race for two seats. Tucker, an 82-year-old veteran of the state legislature, is closely allied with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka – and so is McIver, who has endorsed Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign (and who was once Baraka’s fifth-grade student).

McIver is not taking sides between the two other candidates running for the district, Assemblywoman Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) and attorney Chigozie Onyema. Hall was once a cog in the Essex Democratic machine, but after losing party support this year she instead allied herself with Fulop. Onyema, meanwhile, is running with party support alongside Tucker, but he wasn’t always aligned with the Democratic organization; in 2022, he ran (unsuccessfully) for Newark City Council against a candidate on the Baraka-McIver slate.

Also earning McIver’s support are 27th district Assemblywomen Alixon Collazos-Gill (D-Montclair) and Rosy Bagolie (D-Livingston); 34th district Assemblymembers Carmen Morales (D-Belleville) and Mike Venezia (D-Bloomfield); 20th district Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth) and Union County Commissioner Sergio Granados (D-Elizabeth); 29th district Assemblywomen Shanique Speight (D-Newark) and Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Newark); and former prosecutor Andrew Macurdy and Garwood Councilman Vincent Kearney, the two Democrats running for the competitive 21st district.

Collazos-Gill, Bagolie, Morales, and Venezia all face challengers running on Fulop’s slate; Quijano and Granados, too, have drawn challengers running on an independent ticket.

“I am proud to support this group of talented leaders who will serve as dedicated members of our State Legislature,” McIver said in a statement. “This is a crucial moment for our state and nation, and these hardworking candidates are ready to meet it. I look forward to partnering in Congress with them as we do the work to make sure that our state is a place where everyone – no matter who they are or what their ZIP code is – can thrive.”

One district missing from McIver’s list: the 32nd district, which overlaps a fair bit with McIver’s congressional territory in Jersey City. The district is hosting a politically complex six-way race featuring three different slates this year, including three sitting elected officials.