Eleven candidates are vying to complete the term in Congress of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-10th) in a special primary election Tuesday. Payne died earlier this year, and his death occurred too close to the Democratic primary for his name to be replaced on the ballot, leading to his posthumous win.
Tuesday’s special election will decide which candidate will run in September to complete the final three months of Payne’s term.
Later this week, Democratic committees in the 10th District will determine who will run in the November general for the full term in the next Congress. The committees may pick a candidate who doesn’t win Tuesday’s race and not all the candidates in Tuesday’s race are happy with that arrangement.
“There was never an expectation that it will be easy. There was an expectation, though, that it would be fair,” said Brittany Claybrooks, a candidate who previously served as a city councilwoman in East Orange. “There are Democratic leaders who are saying ‘it doesn’t matter who wins tomorrow,’ and they’re saying it publicly.”
LeRoy Jones, who chairs the Essex County Democratic Committee and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, says committees will take into account Tuesday’s election result as one of many variable when they pick the candidate who will run for the full term.
LaMonica McIver, Newark City Council president, is the favorite to win Tuesday’s election, with more endorsements and more financial backing than any of the other candidates.
