PATERSON – Democratic Committee members in the 35th Legislative District will convene next Thursday, Jan. 16th, to select a state senator for the Paterson-based North Jersey district. Longtime slate mates and party allies Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly are competing for the job.

No strangers to scrappy politics, the pair didn’t want to have to get in a scrap with each other, if possible, but that turned out to be impossible.

“You have to compete for it,” Wimberly said in Dunkin Donuts on Route 20 this morning.  “I couldn’t just sit by and concede.” He’s an old football coach.  That’s what he does. He competes.

And Sumter? Same. She’s been on the ground in Paterson campaigns for years, going back to middle school government and later serving as president of her high school class.

“I’m excited to raise my hand to run for the senate,” said Sumter, in a diner on the west side of town. “Initially it will be a committee vote but we still need the people.”

This campaign collision course triggered when U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9) died in August, and the party turned to then-state Senator Nellie Pou as its candidate for Congress.  Pou narrowly won the seat in November, even as Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in Passaic County.

Now, Wimberly and Sumter – both serving in the Assembly since 2012 – must square off for the seat Pou left behind. This past Saturday, the pair screened with the party leaders from LD-35’s towns: North Haledon, Paterson, Haledon and Prospect Park.

President and CEO of Children’s Aid and Family Services, a lifelong healthcare services provider, the married mother of two, Sumter prides herself on being a unifier and listener. Her recent legislative service record includes expanding equity for state-contracted minority and women’s businesses, reforming juvenile justice, and expanding driver’s license access for undocumented workers.

“We have 0.01% of blacks who contract with the state, so we have to be intentional,” said the assemblywoman.

Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, Sumter journeyed to South Africa with her family over the winter

break to see firsthand the jailcell of the late Nelson Mandela, and to reaffirm her commitment to social justice. “We’re a microcosm of the world here and I feel humbled and honored to be able to lift my voice at the table,” the assemblywoman told InsiderNJ.

She continues to spearhead efforts to highlight key state services for her constituents, including the nutrition benefits program and the Anchor program.

“My effort is to get government outside the gold dome so we can share with people how to be a partner and to make life a little easier for them,” Sumter said. “Talking and communicating are key – using every medium to connect. I do newsletters – have done it for years – because the older generation may not take to being a Facebook friend. I’m letting people know where government assistance is.”

Working in behavioral health, Sumter routinely sees people in crisis.

“We have to teach prevention too, we can’t medicate our way out of this,” she said. “My life’s work has been in this space. It is full circle. When we expanded Medicaid it put close to a million people who had no insurance, on an insurance plan. In a state with a population of 9.5 million, that’s a million people now who have a benefit they can tap into. …We have gone [in the Murphy years] from 48th to 28th in the country in terms of postpartum coverage for women.”

A faith-driven leader and St. Luke’s Baptist Church member, Sumter says she maintains her strong roots in Paterson, where she met her husband and raised her two children.

The favorite in this contest, Sumter spoke directly to why she wants to go from the Assembly to the Senate. “We are a party that’s going to fight for you,” she said of the Democrats. “We’re a big tent that sometimes gets confusing… but I’ve always campaigned with candidates at all levels.

“Together we can win,” she added. “We don’t have enough rateables [in Paterson] and as we look to a budget shortfall, we need to fight for our people here. Building schools, parks and open spaces, we’ve done that. It does matter to have an elected official who cares what you care about.”

Recreation Director for the City of Paterson, President Pro Tempore of the Assembly, legendary local football coach, and the married father of four, Wimberly comes from a family with deep Silk City roots.

His grandfather and uncle were Philip Randolph labor organizers.

“Knowing you have a legacy, you have to live up to it,” he told InsiderNJ.

In the Legislature, the assemblyman just served as the co-chair of the committee to redesign the primary ballot in New Jersey, in conjunction with a judge’s order. “Taking the line away and trying to neutralize the power of the bosses, per say, was the most significant change,” Wimberly said. “At the end of the day, the people know. Will it have an impact? Some.”

If he comes up short at the convention next week, will he challenge anyway, without the party organization behind him? “I don’t know,” said the assemblyman. “We agreed not to do it, but I’ve been getting a very positive response.”

Also, “I’ve been under attack,” he said, referring to this morning’s paper.

Wimberly said he works with and for the working poor.

“A majority of the people I work with are a couple of paychecks away from being homeless,” he said. “I work to give hope to the hopeless. The reality is many folks [in state government] have to google what goes on in the lives of students, for example. Kids come to school hungry and without coats. The reality is people in this district want housing, healthcare, and food on their tables. These are not issues you campaign on.

“You live them,” he said. “We should not have veterans – people who fought for their country – living in bus stops and unable to get healthcare.”

College affordability?

“We don’t know what’s going to happen with the Department of Education with this new [Trump] Administration,” Wimberly said.

Yet people don’t seem to be convinced government can do much to help, cynicism routinely borne out by low voter turnout in the City of Paterson.

“There is definitely pessimism,” said the assemblyman. “Look, the Democrats had a lot to run on [last year]. But the Republicans attack and we go high. Things like critical race theory and defunding the police – there’s a spin on everything, and the media plays a major role in what people think.”

Wimberly said he hits the barbershops to stay in touch with constituents.

But it’s also just the work he does – children’s recreation, coaching, and community engagement.

In Dunkin Donuts, half the people who walked in on a Thursday morning, made a beeline to his table to talk to him. “You have to find a spark, stick with it, and go hard,” he said of campaign messaging that really reaches people. “Sometimes with the big tent approach you lose a sense of that.”

If elected to the senate, he would like to make sure children get access to the programs that made him, his four sons, and the children of Paterson, some of whom – like Victor Cruz, coached by Wimberly, and Tim Thomas – went on to become storied professional athletes. “One of the first things to cut is education and after-school programs,” Wimberly said. “That’s not a Donald Trump thing. That’s [state] administration to administration.”