1987 NJ LD-35 Assembly Results

The 1987 NJ LD-35 Assembly Elections, an uncompetitive race that resulted in the reelection of Assemblyman John Girgenti & first successful election of then Passaic Democratic Chairman, Future Paterson Mayor & Congressman Bill Pascrell had an interesting coalition under the hood

Here, there was a minor spilit in the Democratic Party, with both Republican Candidates (Martin Barnes and Robert Angele) being former Democrats.

Barnes—an African American Republican, former Paterson Councilman and Bill Pascrell's eventual successor as mayor—left the Democratic party because he beleived that the party was taking African American and Latino voices for granted.

In fact, his stated reason for running in 1987 was that the Passaic Democrats had claimed to minority groups that that seat would go to an African American or Latino, where instead they were passed over for the Italian American County chair.

However, it was always an uphill race, and despite suport from some prominent politicians such as former Paterson Mayor Lawrance "Pat" Kramer, the fact the district had a significant blue lean, and Barnes/Angele were significantly outspent made it so both lost by nearlt 40%.

Despite this, Looking at the overal results and specifically at the Pascrell vs Barnes Map shows that Angele and especially Barnes made significant inroads with African Americans, with Pascrell winning them over Angele by a sub 20% margin.

In fact, Pascrell's 35% victory over Barnes came from his monumental victory with White voters—while holding his own with hispanic voters. In this sense, he was able to carry the at the time conservative Dutch heavy Prospect park by 1%.

In the end, despite this slight controvecy in his first election, this 1987 race would kick off a 37 year career where Minorities, especially African Americans and Latinos, would Power Pascrell to an unbroken streak of Wins,

advancing him to the Mayoralty of the majority minority town he called home all his life, unseating a Republican member of congress, helping him keep his job in 2012 when Republicans drew his seat in with the old NJ-09, and reelecting him until his passing.

Rest in Peace Mayor Pascrell, we'll miss you.

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