Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss thwarted hopes that America might elect a woman to the highest office, but New Jersey seemingly bucked the trend by adding two more women to its congressional delegation: LaMonica McIver in the 10th Congressional District, and Nellie Pou in the 9th.
They join Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Mikie Sherrill — all Democrats — hitting a high mark for New Jersey.
“We have four — and we’ve never had that many women serving at one time in our congressional delegation,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “So we have a really an impressive delegation going to Washington to represent New Jersey.”
Walsh dissected the election results Wednesday on a Rutgers panel, where analysts noted that getting women elected is difficult. “It takes work, it takes nurturing, and it’s something we have to look at up and down the ballot,” Walsh said.
Added Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a visiting practitioner at the center: “It helps all of us when we have people with diverse life experiences at the decision-making tables.”
In the 10th District, LaMonica McIver won a special election to finish the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr.’s term. The victory was by more than 50 points.
“Definitely, it’s not lost upon me what I represent, the change, the history,” McIver told NJ Spotlight News Anchor Briana Vannozzi. “Even being the second African American woman to represent New Jersey is crazy, surreal to me, still processing it.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Nellie Pou arose as a favorite candidate after Paterson icon Rep. Bill Pascrell’s death, and she eked out a narrow 4-point win in the 9th District. Pou’s slim win in a Democratic stronghold signals a shift, Walsh said.
Harris also won New Jersey by a scant four points, and Donald Trump looks to be on track to win Passaic County — sending a red wave through results in the 9th District.
Democrats had hoped Democratic challenger Sue Altman in the 7th District would add a fifth woman to New Jersey’s delegation. But Altman, running a grassroots campaign that focused on reproductive choice, lost by a crushing 27,000 votes to incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
“We mounted an incredible challenge in this race, one that we should be deeply proud of,” Altman told supporters last night at her election night headquarters in Bridgewater.
Advocates for reproductive rights said the election results should be of concern. Planned Parenthood of New Jersey called on state lawmakers to pass a Reproductive Freedom and Equity bill package. “In the coming months, we know that politicians in other states, the White House, and Congress will continue to push reproductive health care out of reach,” the group said in its appeal.
On Capitol Hill, New Jersey’s four congresswomen in 2025 said they will have an agenda.
“For things like choice, to fight for things like women’s health care, reproductive rights, to get really a lot of focus on the child tax credit,” Sherrill listed. “A lot of things that I fight so hard for in Congress, but to really bring the focus of our delegation onto these issues would be wonderful.”
