William James Pascrell Jr. (January 25, 1937 – August 21, 2024) was an American politician who was a U.S. representative from New Jersey from 1997 until his death in 2024. Pascrell was a member of the Democratic Party and native of Paterson. Before his election to the House of Representatives, Pascrell served in the New Jersey General Assembly for four terms beginning in 1988 and was elected to two terms as mayor of Paterson.
He was initially elected to the House in 1996 representing New Jersey's 8th congressional district. In 2012, the 8th district was redistricted into the 9th district. Pascrell defeated fellow Democratic representative Steve Rothman in a primary and was elected to represent the 9th district during the 2012 general election. He served as the representative from the 9th district until his death.
Early life, education, and academic career
The grandson of Italian immigrants, William James Pascrell Jr. was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on January 25, 1937, the son of Roffie J. (née Loffredo) and William James Pascrell (originally Pascrelli). He attended St. George's Elementary School, and in 1955 graduated from St. John the Baptist High School, where he was elected student council president. He served in the United States Army and United States Army reserves. Pascrell attended Fordham University in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in philosophy.
Pascrell spent 12 years as a high school teacher in Paramus, New Jersey, teaching several subjects including psychology, before being hired as a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He was appointed to the Paterson Board of Education and served as board president. He also served on Passaic County Community College's board of trustees.
Pascrell was first elected to office in 1987 when he ran for the New Jersey General Assembly seat, which was vacated by the retiring Vincent O. Pellecchia. He and incumbent Assemblyman John Girgenti retained the District 35 seats for the Democrats by defeating Republican nominees Martin Barnes, a Paterson city councilman, and Robert Angele, who worked in the city housing administration. Pascrell received 34% of the vote, enough to earn him the seat.
Pascrell and Girgenti were reelected in 1989 over Republicans Joaquin Calcines, Jr. and Jose Moore, with Pascrell polling at 36%; however, Girgenti was replaced by Cyril Yannarelli midway through the term when he was appointed to the State Senate following the March 5, 1990 death of Frank Graves.
Entering the 1991 election, District 35 was split as Pascrell and Frank Catania, a Republican, were standing for reelection (Catania having won a special election for Girgenti's Assembly seat). Pascrell and Catania won re-election, with Pascrell's running mate Eli Burgos finishing third and his Paterson rival Martin Barnes fourth.
In 1993, Pascrell and Reverend Alfred E. Steele of Paterson attempted to put Democrats in full control of District 35 again while Catania ran with Paterson's Harvey Nutter to try to win the seats for the Republicans. Once again, the incumbents won, with Pascrell as the leading vote-getter at 31%. Catania had a tighter race with Steele.
Pascrell and Steele broke through as a pair and won control of the Assembly seats for the Democrats in 1995. Facing Donald Hayden, who was appointed to the seat after Catania was selected to serve in a state administrative position, and Dennis Gonzalez in the general election, both emerged with significant victories and Pascrell once again topped out at 33%. He eventually became Minority Leader Pro Tempore.
Pascrell resigned from the General Assembly in January 1997 in order to take his seat in the House of Representatives and was replaced by Paterson municipal administrator Nellie Pou; she would also succeed him in the House in 2025.
In May of 1990, Pascrell ran for the mayoral seat in his hometown, which had also been vacated after Graves' death in March. He faced City Council President Reverend Albert P. Rowe, Passaic County Freeholder Michael Adamo, and former councilman and police officer Roy Griffin in the nonpartisan election, which he won with 51.4% of the vote. He was sworn in on July 1, 1990, and served his term concurrently with his role as State Assemblyman.
Pascrell ran for a second term in 1994 and faced two challengers, his former District 35 rival Martin Barnes and long-standing Sixth Ward councilman and former mayor Tom Rooney. He won the three-way contest with 46% of the vote.
Pascrell resigned as mayor on January 3, 1997, in order to take his congressional seat. The city council appointed Barnes to replace him.
In 1996, Pascrell ran for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey's Eighth Congressional District. The seat had been reliably Democratic for many years; it had been in Democratic hands without interruption from 1961 to 1995, with Robert A. Roe serving from 1969 until 1993. But in the 1994 Republican Revolution, Republican Bill Martini, a Clifton councilman and Passaic County freeholder, defeated Roe's successor, Herbert Klein. Pascrell won the nomination and the seat, defeating the incumbent with 51% of the vote. The district reverted to form, and Pascrell never faced another contest nearly that close again; winning reelection seven more times with at least 62% of the vote.
After redistricting, the existing 8th district was eliminated, and Pascrell's home in Paterson was placed in the newly redrawn 9th district. Fellow Democratic congressman Steve Rothman decided to move into the reconfigured 9th and challenge Pascrell in the primary. Rothman's home in Fair Lawn had been drawn into a Republican-leaning district against Republican Scott Garrett. Geographically, the new district was more Rothman's district than Pascrell's. It covered 53% of Rothman's former territory and only 43% of Pascrell's.
The primary contest devolved into a highly competitive proxy war over Israel. American Arab Forum president Aref Assaf published a column in The Star-Ledger, "Rothman Is Israel's Man in District 9", in which he wrote:
As total and blind support becomes the only reason for choosing Rothman, voters who do not view the elections in this prism will need to take notice. Loyalty to a foreign flag is not loyalty to America's [flag].