Longtime northern New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell Junior has passed away. He died Wednesday at the age of 87.
Pascrell spent 28 years representing residents in Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties in Congress. The Democrat helped turn the Great Falls in his hometown of Paterson into a national park and was an advocate for protecting the environment. Political Science Professor Dan Cassino says Pascrell also gained national attention when fighting to get New Jersey federal aid following superstorm Sandy.
"It was a Republican controlled Congress, and he was generally a soft spoken guy, but he just excoriated the leadership for not moving quickly enough on the Sandy aid."
Cassino predicts Democratic leaders in Pascrell's district will nominate a candidate for the ballot in November to fill Pascrell's seat. August 29th is the deadline for changing names on a ballot in time for the November election.