Credit: (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
WASHINGTON — One high-profile federal corruption trial. Two deaths of sitting members of Congress. Three new members elected from New Jersey to the House of Representatives. And four senators in a calendar year.
Turnover in New Jersey state and federal politics coursed through 2024 as a senior generation of politicians gave way to a more junior — and less experienced — wave of lawmakers.
The deaths of former Reps. Donald Payne Jr. and Bill Pascrell undercut the state’s federal clout, and the resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, a longtime force in New Jersey and federal politics, further damaged the state’s political heft.
More turnover could occur in 2026, too, if either Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th) or Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th) wins the race for governor next year, forcing the winner to resign from Congress.
When the 119th Congress in U.S. history begins in January, New Jersey will essentially have three brand-new lawmakers in the House and one, Sen. Andy Kim, sworn in earlier this month, finding his footing as a newcomer in the Senate.
While Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th) has served a few months, she will basically be starting fresh in the new Congress, and Reps.-elect Herb Conaway (D-3rd) and Nellie Pou (D-9th) will be rookies to Capitol Hill.
McIver won the seat Payne held, while Conaway and Pou will soon hold the former seats of Kim and Pascrell, respectively.
As the new year beckons, marked by a hotly contested race for New Jersey governor and aggressive policies expected from the incoming Trump administration, here is a look back at events this year that elevated a new cast of politicians who will represent the state in Washington:
Has New Jersey lost power in Washington?
Longtime House Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) is on track to again lead a powerful congressional committee that oversees health care, transportation, the environment, prescription drugs, digital communications and more.
Pallone, who was handily reelected Tuesday to his 19th term in Congress, is positioned to become chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee if Democrats win the House or remain the ranking member — the most senior committee member from the minority party — if Republicans hold it.
But Pallone is an outlier in the New Jersey delegation to Washington, where few of his colleagues hold high-ranking seats on powerful committees, and recent deaths plus the resignation of former Sen. Bob Menendez have gutted the state’s clout in Congress.
Read the full story here.
The legacy built by Bill Pascrell, a ‘scrappy Paterson guy until the end’
In his decades of political life, first in his hometown of Paterson, where he was mayor, then in the state Legislature and later in Congress, Pascrell pushed laws about average citizens into existence, balancing public input from his home district with his legislative objectives on Capitol Hill.
Pascrell, a fiery progressive and 14-term House member whose upbringing in the industrialized Northeast shaped his worldview, died last week at 87. He was a heavy favorite to win reelection in November.
Read the full story here.
Legacy of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. includes policies prompted by own health challenges
Donald Payne Jr., a reliable Democratic member of Congress who helped broker a deal to avoid a freight rail strike, used his seat on a transportation committee to secure a tunnel-and-rail project to cement Newark as a transit hub and wrote legislation about the cancer that killed his father, died Wednesday. Payne was 65.
Payne had been hospitalized for weeks at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center after a “physical accident” at home on April 6.
Read the full story here.
Helmy’s short stay offers glimpse into Senate life
It’s a privilege to cover Congress. You see things most people don’t, learn about the U.S. government in ways the public might miss and talk to lawmakers often. Then you dump all the key portions and quotes from your notebook or recorder into a story. The next day, you do it again.
Most days, Congress is less cloak-and-dagger scheming and dramatic votes than people might imagine. Think more C-SPAN 2 and less of The West Wing’s soaring oratory.
On Nov. 19, I shadowed Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ) for a day, joining him in the halls and in his office when I could, and doing other work when I couldn’t.
Read the full story here.
A month early, Kim joins U.S. Senate
For the second time since September, New Jersey has a new U.S. senator.
Andy Kim was sworn in Monday evening to one of the state’s two Senate seats after George Helmy, a longtime Democratic staffer who had held the seat for about three months, resigned over the weekend.
“This is certainly going to be a moment I’m never going to forget for the rest of my life. To swear that oath and turn around and see my two boys up in the gallery looking down,” Kim said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News after he was sworn in. “It’s incredibly meaningful. I’m humbled by this.”
Read the full story here.
