LaMonica McIver wins special House election in New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. (PIX11) — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.

Payne had held the seat for more than 10 years before he died in office in April following complications from a heart attack.

Gov. Phil Murphy had set the primary for July and the general election for September for someone else to represent the district for the last few months of Payne’s unexpired term. 

Polling locations in Newark's University Heights neighborhood were quiet for much of Wednesday. Rider University political professor Micah Rasmussen says around 17,000 votes were cast before Wednesday, of which 13,000 were sent by mail.

He says it's not certain when the winner of the special election will be sworn in. "The House is in session this week, it's supposed to be in session next week, they may not be in session, they may skip town, they may skip next week's session. They're going into an election break. So the winner of this race, if we have to wait until the election is certified, the winner of this race may not be sworn in until after the election break anyway, the general election break," said Rasmussen.

McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January.

Rasmussen says the same candidates will be on the ballot again in November as they vie for the congressional seat's full term.

Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he's looking forward to the rematch in November.

“I am not going anywhere," he said in an email. "We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”