Trailblazer: Congressman Donald Payne, Jr.

Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (1958-2024), an immensely likable, low-key but effective, progressive six-term congressman from New Jersey who was passionate about social justice and constituent service, represented parts of Essex, Hudson and Union counties in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2012 until his death in 2024.

His father, Rep. Donald Payne Sr. (D-Newark), was a trailblazer in New Jersey politics. When he was elected to Congress in 1988, the winner of an open seat after twice challenging Rep. Peter W. Rodino (D-Newark) in the Democratic primary in a Black-majority district, he became New Jersey’s first-ever Black representative.

Following his father’s death of colon cancer in March 2012 at age 77, Payne became a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives and won a tough primary in New Jersey’s 10th district.

As a Democrat, Payne checked all the boxes for support among progressive voters: he supported Medicare for All, Green New Deal, Racial Justice, Equal Rights for all, Reproductive Freedom, public transportation, and free college tuition.

Payne became a national leader in a move to fund clean drinking water projects across the nation that resulted in the passage of a House infrastructure bill that included $55 billion for the national replacement of lead pipes.  Nearly $200 million went to replace more than 24,000 lead pipes in Newark.

In a bid to reduce community gun violence, Payne was a sponsor of the Safer Neighborhoods Gun Buyback Act of 2019.
As a proponent of making childcare, housing, and prescription drugs more affordable and fighting climate change, Payne voted for the Build Back Better Act.  He supported legislation to expand the Voting Rights Act, to provide to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

Under a Democratic majority, Payne served as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.  He had previously headed the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

Payne began his own electoral career the same way his father had in 1972: running in a countywide election as a candidate for Essex County Freeholder.  Democrats put Payne on the organization line in 2005 to replace Albertus Jenkins, who opted not to seek re-election.  Running with three incumbents, Payne was the top vote-getter with about 105,000 votes against a ticket headed by Republican Candace Straight.

He was re-elected in 2008 and 2011, the top vote-getter in primary and general elections in every county race he ran in.

In 2006, Payne ran for an at-large seat on the Newark City Council.  That was the year Cory Booker was first elected mayor. In the May non-partisan municipal election, he finished fifth out of twelve candidates in a race for four seats.  In the runoff, Payne finished third an won the seat.   When he sought a second term, he was the top vote-getter and became council president.

Running for Congress in 2012, Payne had the organization line as the endorsed candidate for the Essex County Democrats.

He faced a crowded field of six candidates that included: Newark West Ward City Councilman Ronald C. Rice, the son of a popular state senator; State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair); Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith; and newcomers Iraq War veteran Dennis Flynn and Cathy Wright, who worked in the billing office at the Star-Ledger.

Gill had the county line in Hudson after winning the endorsement of the Democratic county chairman, Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith.  But U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and then-Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop endorsed Payne.

Three Newark city council members – Baraka, Crump, and Darrin Sharif – endorsed Rice.

Union County Democrats put Payne, Rice, Gill, and Smith on the organization line.

Payne won the Democratic primary with 59.6%, defeating Rice (19.5%) by 24,627 votes.  Gill finished third with 16.6%, running 1,732 votes behind Rice.  Smith received just 2.2%, followed by Flynn (1.3%) and Wright, who had less than one percent.

Following his father’s death, Payne actively promoted enhanced awareness of colon cancer and colonoscopies, especially among low-income residents in his district.  He was a member of the Congressional Men’s Health Caucus, the Colorectal Cancer Caucus, and the Peripheral Artery Disease Caucus.