AREA — A dozen candidates will vie for the opportunity to fill an unexpired term in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District, a traditionally Democratic seat that was left vacant with the passing of Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. last month.
Eleven Democrats — three of whom have faced challenges related to their nominating petitions and a fourth who has been publicly accused of overtly prejudicial behavior — will appear on the ballot during a special Primary vote scheduled to be held on Tuesday, July 16.
Charges of anti-Semitism were filed against Linden Mayor Derek Armstead — who has held his position within the city since 2014 and is the only Democratic candidate to hail from Union County — earlier this week after he was allegedly caught using anti-Semitic language to discuss hiring practices in the local school district.
According to a whistleblower lawsuit filed in state Superior Court by the Linden school district’s former assistant superintendent, the mayor, along with members of the local school board and other administrators, allegedly engaged in an “illegal hiring scheme” intended to keep the city’s growing Orthodox Jewish community from “taking over” the district’s operations.
“Linden will go the same way as Roselle, Irvington and Newark if we don’t manage this thing the way that we’ve been trying to manage it, and that’s by having full and complete control over who gets hired,” the mayor allegedly said in a recorded conversation. “That is what has to happen in order to keep our community from being taken over by guys with big hats and curls.”
Mr. Armstead has since denied the allegations.
Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver, Rutgers law pro- fessor Eugene Mazo and Brittany Claybrooks, a former East Orange councilwoman, also will be allowed to continue their campaigns despite challenges issued against their individual nominating petitions.
The other Democratic challengers include Jerry Walker (a member of the Hudson County Board of Commissioners), Darryl Godfrey (the chief operations officer of the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority), Shana Melius (one of Donald Payne Jr.’s former staffers), Sheila Montague (a professor at Essex County College), Debra Salters (a community activist from Newark) and Alberta Gordon (a data engineering manager from Newark).
Carmen Bucco, the owner of a small business and frequent candidate in state and local elections, is the only Republican candidate on the ticket.
Congressman Payne, who was slated to run unopposed in the regular June Primary, will posthumously win the Democratic nomination before the special Primary in July.
A special general election will be held in September. The winner of that election will serve as the representative for residents in Essex and Hudson Counties as well as those of Cranford, Garwood, Hillside, Kenilworth, Roselle, Roselle Park, Union Township and part of Linden until the remainder of Mr. Payne’s term expires in January 2025.
