NJ-10: Donald Payne passes away (4/24/2024)

[Minnesota Mike]

https://twitter.com/wildstein/status/1780679250351194315

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

That’s awful, he’s only 65. i hope he gets better but I’m not optimistic.

[Minnesota Mike]

That’s awful, he’s only 65. i hope he gets better but I’m not optimistic.

Sadly when a person has been on a ventilator that long things look bleak. Hope I'm wrong.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

There is a historical precedent for this happening.

Congresswoman Spellman of Maryland had a heartache on Halloween and never regained consciousness a few days before being re-elected. She was 63 at the time. In February the following year (1981) her seat was declared vacant and a special election held. So they waited four months before officially vacating her seat.

With Payne, if he doesn’t regain consciousness there’s the uncomfortable situation of this already being an election year. If they wait fourth months like with Spellman that would be just about two months before the fall election. I don’t really know what should be done here.

[mjba257]

ventilators are a death sentence. i know from personal experience with a family member. once you get put on one, it's very hard to get weened off. pray for a miracle

[cg41386]

ventilators are a death sentence. i know from personal experience with a family member. once you get put on one, it's very hard to get weened off. pray for a miracle

Your personal experience is just that- one personal experience. Ventilators are not a death sentence.

[Duke of York]

ventilators are a death sentence. i know from personal experience with a family member. once you get put on one, it's very hard to get weened off. pray for a miracle

this is not true.

[Atlas Force]

His father, Donald Sr. - who was also New Jersey’s first black congressman - died in office of colon cancer (Donald Jr. won the special to replace him). It unfortunately appears health problems run in the family, and from a political perspective, it would also be sad if the worst happens and the people of the district have to deal with losing representation in the middle of a term twice in a row.

[kyc0705]

Surely the problem is less the existence of the ventilator and more that he's apparently been comatose for almost two weeks.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

ventilators are a death sentence. i know from personal experience with a family member. once you get put on one, it's very hard to get weened off. pray for a miracle

Not necessarily, it depends on a number of different factors.  Off the top of my head, acute respiratory failure has about a 50-60% success rate when it comes to weaning.  

The bigger issue here is that he's been in a coma for a little over two weeks.  Recovery from coma after even a few weeks is not unheard of, but it sounds as though he hasn't demonstrated many positive signs to that effect (though I'm obviously not his doctor).  

My thoughts are with him and his family.  Also I'm sorry for your loss, mjba.  

[GeorgiaModerate]

ventilators are a death sentence. i know from personal experience with a family member. once you get put on one, it's very hard to get weened off. pray for a miracle

Not necessarily, it depends on a number of different factors.  Off the top of my head, acute respiratory failure has about a 50-60% success rate when it comes to weaning.  

The bigger issue here is that he's been in a coma for a little over two weeks.  Recovery from coma after even a few weeks is not unheard of, but it sounds as though he hasn't demonstrated many positive signs to that effect (though I'm obviously not his doctor).  

My thoughts are with him and his family.  Also I'm sorry for your loss, mjba.  

A counterexample with a happy ending: a colleague's elderly father (I don't know his exact age, but he served in WW2!) was hospitalized for several weeks this year due to COVID and was on a ventilator for part of it.  It was touch and go for a while, but he gradually recovered and was released just a few days ago.

[Roll Roons]

I hope he’ll be alright, but this doesn’t sound great: https://payne.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-donald-m-payne-jrs-health-update

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I hope he’ll be alright, but this doesn’t sound great: https://payne.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-donald-m-payne-jrs-health-update

Yeah, “while we hope for a full recovery” doesn’t sound optimistic

[JMT]

https://twitter.com/wildstein/status/1783166660536418722?s=46&t=-r8JGlJno4tb...

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

RIP.

[Atlas Force]

Oh damn…

Rest In Peace

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

RIP.

Sigh of relief for Mike Johnson, as without this the House would need only 2 defecting Rs for a D preferred outcome to succeed after the NY-26 Special. This will keep it at the current status quo of 3.

[DrScholl]

RIP.

Sigh of relief for Mike Johnson, as without this the House would need only 2 defecting Rs for a D preferred outcome to succeed after the NY-26 Special. This will keep it at the current status quo of 3.

What a crappy thing to say. "IT'S GOOD THIS GUY DIED BECAUSE IT SAVES REPUBLICANS FROM THEIR OWN SELF-DESTRUCTION!".

[Roll Roons]

Awful to hear, RIP.

I think the statement from a week ago made it clear that his prognosis wasn’t good.

[Lambsbread]

RIP Congressman Payne.

RIP.

Sigh of relief for Mike Johnson, as without this the House would need only 2 defecting Rs for a D preferred outcome to succeed after the NY-26 Special. This will keep it at the current status quo of 3.

Most definitely not the appropriate time for this.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Not entirely surprising. RIP.

RIP.

Sigh of relief for Mike Johnson, as without this the House would need only 2 defecting Rs for a D preferred outcome to succeed after the NY-26 Special. This will keep it at the current status quo of 3.

What a crappy thing to say. "IT'S GOOD THIS GUY DIED BECAUSE IT SAVES REPUBLICANS FROM THEIR OWN SELF-DESTRUCTION!".

Like it or not deaths can impact the trajectory of such a closely divided House. This outcry is silly.

[Atlas Force]

https://twitter.com/wildstein/status/1783175027644354787

https://twitter.com/ECaliberSeven/status/1783176371591696435

The death of Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) creates an open congressional seat in New Jersey’s 10th district that will be filled under extraordinary circumstances: the filing deadline has passed and Payne is unopposed in the June 4 Democratic primary.  Filling his seat is both easy – roughly 1,084 Democratic county committee members will pick the new member of Congress – and at the same time, complicated, since Gov. Phil Murphy could theoretically call a free-standing special election to fill Payne’s unexpired term.

What happens after the primary?

After the June 17 deadline to certify the results of the primary election, Secretary of State Tahesha Way would declare a vacancy for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 10th district.  There are no special primary elections once the candidate is nominated.  The only legal way to fill the vacancy would be for Democratic county committee members in the district to pick a replacement.  After that, the Democratic county chairs in Essex, Hudson, and Union counties would call a convention to pick a nominee.

When must the meeting be held?

The statutory deadline to replace Payne on the ballot is August 29.  Political parties are under no legal obligation to fill the vacant nomination before then.

Who can vote?

County committee members from the 18 municipalities in New Jersey’s 10th congressional district.  It will be up to the rules adopted by the county chairs to decide if appointed county committee members may vote, and if so, the deadline to certify a list of official voters.  Essex County Democratic county committee members are on the ballot this year.

[ClassicElectionEnthusiast]

I would definitely add my sympathies for the Payne family (especially since Payne's father died in office - in the elder Payne's case from colon cancer).

If I had to add anything as far as the political ramifications, there aren't really any (NJ-10's Cook PVI rating is D +30, so it's easily one of the deepest blue districts in the country)

[Atlas Force]

https://twitter.com/MattFriedmanNJ/status/1783193243699585422

[DrScholl]

Not entirely surprising. RIP.

RIP.

Sigh of relief for Mike Johnson, as without this the House would need only 2 defecting Rs for a D preferred outcome to succeed after the NY-26 Special. This will keep it at the current status quo of 3.

What a crappy thing to say. "IT'S GOOD THIS GUY DIED BECAUSE IT SAVES REPUBLICANS FROM THEIR OWN SELF-DESTRUCTION!".

Like it or not deaths can impact the trajectory of such a closely divided House. This outcry is silly.

Of course death has an impact politically, but it's tacky to say that this is a sigh of relief for Mike Johnson. The phrasing was beyond just acknowledging the ramifications.