Newly arrived Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) his victory in a special election in September to succeed the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark), defeated Republican Carmen Bucco to win her first full term representing New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District, according to plans by New Jersey Globe.

The majority-black urban 10th District is the most Democratic district in New Jersey and among the bluest in the entire country, so anything but a Democratic landslide would have been a surprise.

Voters in the 10th District were represented by a member of the Payne family beginning in 1989, when Representative Donald Payne Sr. (Democrat of Newark) took office and became the first black member of Congress in Newark history. Jersey. Payne died of cancer in 2012, and his son, then-Newark Council President Donald Payne Jr., won his seat in his place.

Young Payne served in Congress for almost 12 years, but he too unfortunately suffered from health problems and last April he suffered a heart attack that left him in a coma from which he never recovered. awake; he died April 24. It was too late to put his name on the ballot in the June primary, which he won posthumously; instead, Governor Phil Murphy ordered a special election, with a primary election on July 16 and a general election on September 18.

In theory, this could have created a wide-open race among the 10th District’s many ambitious Democrats — a race that, as New Jersey’s first standalone special election since 1950, was subject to unpredictable turnout rates that could have produced unexpected results. The New Jersey Globe initial list because the seat had 18 names, and there was always the possibility that a well-funded political outsider could also come in and shake up the race.

But early on, Democratic leaders in Essex County decided they wanted to present a united front in the special election — and they thought McIver, Newark City Council president and close ally of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka , was their best bet. After launching her campaign, McIver gained the support of Governor Phil Murphy, Senator Cory Booker and Payne’s family, a show of force that proved she was the consensus choice among New Jersey Democrats.

The 10 other candidates who ran — chief among them Linden Mayor Derek Armstead and Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker (D-Jersey City) — never found a response to this flood of support. After a largely non-ideological battle in which each candidate ran continuing Payne’s legacy, McIver found himself win the primary with 47% of the vote, while Armstead came in second with just 14%.

Shortly after her primary victory, McIver was chosen by county Democratic committee members for the 10th District to run take Payne’s place on the November ballot for a full term. Then, in September, McIver largely won the special election to fill the remainder of Payne’s current term; she defeated Bucco, a tailor and frequent candidate in local elections, 81% to 16%.

McIver’s victory tonight means she will stay in Congress for at least two more years — and, at 38, she could stay there much longer than that.