Democratic leaders in New Jersey on Thursday selected state Sen. Nellie Pou to replace Rep. Bill Pascrell on the November ballot, a week after the 87-year-old congressman died following a lengthy hospitalization.
Her nomination at a special party convention Thursday night comes after Pou won key endorsements from party powerbrokers in the state and a trio of rivals dropped out of the running this week. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, endorsed Pou on Wednesday.
“Nellie Pou is the ideal public servant to succeed Rep. Pascrell and continue his life’s mission of building a stronger, fairer, and more inclusive New Jersey,” Murphy said in a statement.
New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District is deep blue — Joe Biden trounced Donald Trump there in 2020 by 19 percentage points — so Pou would be heavily favored to defeat Republican nominee Billy Prempeh. If elected on Nov. 5, Pou would make history as the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress from New Jersey. The 9th District, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has a large Hispanic population.
After spending much of the summer in the hospital fighting a respiratory infection, Pascrell died on Aug. 21 and was remembered at a funeral Mass Wednesday at Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in his hometown of Paterson. Pou, Murphy, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Jamie Raskin were among the Democratic officials who attended.
Under state election law, Thursday was the deadline for members of a Democratic selection committee to replace Pascrell on the ballot. Had local leaders failed to act, ballots would have been printed with the late congressman’s name.
Pascrell was the second New Jersey Democratic lawmaker to die in office this year. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., 65, died on April 24 from a heart attack related to complications from diabetes. A third Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, died at 74 on July 19 from pancreatic cancer.
The other New Jersey Democrats who had looked to replace Pascrell, a former mayor of Paterson, were Assembly members Benjie Wimberly and Shavonda Sumter, and Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh.
But Pou, 68, who has served in the New Jersey Legislature since 1997, consolidated support after securing critical endorsements from the Democratic committee chairmen representing the three counties that make up the old Pascrell district: Passaic, Bergen and Hudson.
Wimberly, Sumter and Sayegh soon dropped out of the race.
In a statement last week, Biden paid tribute to Pascrell and recalled their three-decade-long friendship.
“Bill was a colleague and dear friend. I had the privilege of working with him for decades on issues ranging from the Fire Grants and Safety Act for the wellbeing of first responders and their families, to veterans’ medical care, international trade, tax fairness, labor unions, and so much more,” Biden said.
“Over the course of our 30-year friendship, Bill defined himself as a devoted patriot, a gentleman, and an exemplary leader,” the president continued. “A beloved bridge-builder and champion for working-class people, Bill fought relentlessly to ensure their voices and needs were at the center of policymaking. I always knew Bill’s positions were guided by his deep conscience and convictions.”
