Consultant Donald M. Payne Jr., a five-term Democrat from Newark who succeeded his father, New Jersey’s first Black member of Congress, died on Wednesday in Newark. He was 65.
He had been hospitalized in Newark and unconscious since April 6, when he sustained a coronary heart assault ensuing from problems of diabetes, in response to his workplace. His demise was introduced by Gov. Phil Murphy.
In 1988, Donald Payne Sr. fulfilled a dream he had publicly proclaimed 14 years earlier: being elected to the Home as the primary Black member of his state’s congressional delegation. He succeeded Peter W. Rodino Jr., whom he had unsuccessfully challenged earlier and who had retired.
In 2012, shortly after Mr. Payne died at 77, Donald Payne Jr. gained a particular election to fill the rest of his time period. He then survived a contentious six-way main to win the Democratic nomination to signify the tenth District, which incorporates components of Essex, Hudson and Union Counties, for a full two-year time period starting in January 2013.
The youthful Mr. Payne was identified for serving to to safe $900 million in a federal allocation for the Gateway tunnel undertaking underneath the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, and for his assist of lead testing at school water programs to stop most cancers and different illnesses, a measure that handed the Home and later the Senate. He additionally pressed for improved emergency responses to hurricanes and different pure disasters and proposed a neighborhood gun buyback program to enhance public security.
When the Democrats managed the Home of Representatives, earlier than the 2022 election, he was chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Supplies and the Homeland Safety Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Restoration.
In 2022, he had anticipated to face a main problem from his left flank. However a critical one didn’t materialize, and he gained the Democratic nomination with 84 p.c of the vote.
Donald Milford Payne Jr. was born on Dec. 17, 1958, in Newark. He was 5 years outdated when his mom, Hazel (Johnson) Payne, died, leaving his father to lift three kids alone.
After graduating from Hillside Excessive College in Hillside, N.J., in 1976, he studied graphic arts at Kean School (now Kean College) in Union. He started working for the New Jersey freeway authority in 1991 — his jobs included Backyard State Parkway toll collector — and in 1996 joined the Essex County Academic Providers Fee as supervisor of pupil transportation.
He entered politics as president of the South Ward Younger Democrats and commenced his electoral profession in 2005 as a countywide candidate for Essex County freeholder, or commissioner. It was the identical route his father had taken as a political novice in 1972. He was later elected president of the Newark Metropolis Council.
Mr. Payne had been operating unopposed within the June 4 Democratic main. It will likely be left to Governor Murphy to schedule a brand new date and a date for a particular election to complete Mr. Payne’s unexpired time period.
Mr. Payne’s survivors embrace his spouse, Beatrice Payne, and their 13-year-old triplets, Donald III, Jack and Yvonne.
“Along with his signature bow tie, large coronary heart and tenacious spirit, Donald embodied the perfect of public service,” Governor Murphy mentioned in an announcement. “As a former union employee and toll collector, he deeply understood the struggles our working households face, and he fought valiantly to serve their wants. each single day.”