AP Decision Notes: What to expect in New Jersey’s special congressional primary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats running to replace the late U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. will go before voters Tuesday in a crowded and contentious special congressional primary where three candidates survived legal challenges to have them removed from the ballot.

The winner will represent the party in a Sept. 18 special general election to serve out the remaining weeks of Payne’s term in northern New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 6 to 1. The outcome of that election will likely further narrow an already fragile Republican majority in the U.S. House.

One of the Democrats looking to fill the vacancy is LaMonica McIver, president of the Newark City Council. McIver has the backing of much of the state’s party establishment, including Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Senator and former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, state party chair Leroy Jones, who doubles as the chair of the Essex County Democratic Committee, and current Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. She also touts the endorsement of William D. Payne, a former state assemblyman and uncle of the late congressman.

In May, McIver’s campaign was almost derailed in its early stages when a rival candidate, former East Orange City Councilmember Brittany Claybrooks, filed a legal challenge to the validity of the paperwork McIver filed to run for office. Candidates for the special primary were required to collect 200 valid signatures from the district’s Democratic electorate. McIver’s paperwork indicated she had 1,081 signatures, all collected by one city council aide, McIver’s mother, in the span of three days, which Claybrooks’ challenge alleged was logistically impossible.