The legislature sent a bill reforming the process of filling U.S. House vacancies to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk on Monday afternoon.
The Assembly approved the bill 66-7 and one abstention, and the state Senate passed the bill 39-0. The bill tightens and standardizes the procedures by which a governor must schedule special elections for U.S. House vacancies, of which New Jersey has experienced four in recent years.
State Sens. Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick) and John McKeon (D-West Orange) first introduced a version of the bill last May. The U.S. Constitution allows governors to appoint replacements to fill federal Senate vacancies, but vacancies in the House must be filled via a special election.
A series of vacancies spurred the legislation: The late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. died in April 2024, and the late Rep. Bill Pascrell died months later in August. Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill left the House of Representatives on Nov. 20, and a special general election to fill her seat will be held on April 16. Senator Andy Kim left the House in December 2024 to assume his Senate seat, but the short window before the next congressional session meant his seat sat empty until January.
“We figured out what a nuisance it is, quite frankly, and a nightmare it is to fill those congressional seats,” McKeon said at the time.
The legislative session ends Tuesday at noon, when 12 new assemblymembers are sworn in. Murphy has until then to sign or veto (or pocket veto) the legislation. Zwicker told the New Jersey Globe he expects the governor to sign the bill.
The bill requires governors to trigger the process of a special election within 10 days of the vacancy occurring, which Zwicker says removes politics from the equation. If a governor is not required to call a special election in a district that favors the opposing party, the governor could stall, Zwicker argues. Democrats last year, for example, accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, of delaying a special election in a safely Democratic House district.
“In times of hyper-polarization, we can’t allow our right to representation in the House to be tampered with,” Zwicker wrote in an op-ed last year. “Fortifying our system with fair, consistent rules for filling vacancies will ensure that voters will have a representative fighting for them in Congress.”
The legislation sets two main procedures for filling House vacancies. If the vacancy occurs with more than 180 days left on the term — or six months before the congressional session ends on Jan. 3 every two years — the governor must: declare a special election within 10 days; schedule a special primary election within 70 and 76 days after his declaration; and schedule a special general election between 64 and 70 days after the special primary.
Under this schedule, most vacancies will be filled between 135 days and 156 days after the vacancy occurs.
There is an exception: if those timeframes fall between 45 days before and 25 days after an already scheduled election, the special election should be held on that already scheduled date with other races. Such a move saves the state money on election administration and increases turnout.
The second scenario lays it out for vacancies that occur between 180 and 135 days before the congressional session ends — or between July 7 and Aug. 21 in even-numbered years. In this situation, no special primary election is held, and political parties will select their nominees. The governor would schedule the special general election for 64 to 70 days later, or, when required, the already scheduled general election date in November. This scenario is notable in a post-county-line New Jersey, as it would allow party leaders to bypass its primary voters.
If a vacancy occurs in the final 135 days of a congressional term, a special election is not held.
