With New Jersey’s notorious “party line” all but abolished for Democrats, the 10th Congressional District has drawn almost a dozen candidates to vie for the seat vacated by the death of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr.
For some, it’s a chance to break up the system that had allowed leadership in both parties to tilt elections to their favored candidates’ advantage.
“Voter apathy is something that is happening across the country,” said Brittany Claybrooks, one of the 11 candidates. “Every state or community has their role to play in that, but in New Jersey, the line has been the source of voter apathy because people don’t have options and people are discouraged from running.”
Now, candidates like Claybrooks say it’s a new day politically, with several of the names in this race coming with impressive resumes. Claybrooks, for one, is a planning director in Plainfield and former East Orange city council member. LaMonica McIver, the favorite in the race, is the president of the Newark City Council. Jerry Walker is a Hudson County Commissioner.
“The Payne family, I believe, have had this position for at least 40 years,” said Walker. “So this was an opportunity. But it also speaks to the people who wanted to get involved before but couldn’t because of party line politics.”
Phil Alagia, the chief of staff to the Essex County Executive said he backs McIver, as does the Essex County Democratic Organization. But, he said in an election to be held in the middle of summer, with no top of the ticket, the party organization will have its work cut out for it just to get people to pay attention.
“It’s a strange dynamic in this race because of redistricting,” he said. “You have three different counties that are involved. You may have the Hudson County Dem organization endorsing someone else. You have gubernatorial politics at play here: Mikie Sherrill, Ras Baraka, Josh Gottheimer, Steve Fulop, whoever may or may not be endorsing from Union County. That plays into this election.”
The race has already seen its first court case. Claybrooks mounted a legal challenge to McIver’s nominating petitions, almost derailing the latter’s candidacy before it began.
“This is the brave new world,” said Micah Rasmussen, the executive director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
“In candidate-centered campaigns, it is the candidate who is putting this stuff together,” Rasmussen said. “It is the candidate who is circulating the petitions. Maybe it’s her mom who’s circulating it. Maybe it’s her chief of staff who’s circulating it. But it is not the apparatus of the party itself that is making sure that everything is buttoned up. So you’re going to have these mistakes that are going to happen as we ramp up to this new system in which the candidates are in the middle of everything. It’s not the party organizations that are at the middle of everything anymore.”
The candidate who wins this primary — set for July 16 — will then run in the special general election in September. The winner would fill the rest of Payne’s term, a few months’ worth.
