Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman LeRoy Jones (pictured, above) next month will honor U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-10) at a breakfast event featuring House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

Payne faces a 2022 primary in what, on paper, is New Jersey’s most Democratic District.

Political activist Imani Oakley is already running a robust progressive campaign.

Jones  – who is also the New Jersey Democratic State Committee – is clearly standing by the Newark-based incumbent.

The Sept. 8th function is scheduled to take place at Nanina’s in the Park, with host tickets running $2,900 per head, and “friend” tickets running $500 apiece.

Payne has been in the U.S. House of Representatives for almost a decade. In 2012, the former Newark Councilman and Essex County Freeholder, successfully ran to succeed his late father in Congress.

Payne, Sr. was New Jersey’s first African American congressman.

This past June, Jones Jr. – the long-serving Essex County Democratic Committee chairman – was elected as the new Chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, succeeding former Chairman John Currie after a unanimous vote of elected DSC members held in Asbury Park.

Hoyer of Maryland is currently in his 20th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. and is a two-time House Majority Leader.