PARAMUS – Thoughtful, soft-spoken, and substantive, state Senator Nellie Pou (D-35) transmits the opposite kind of energy as the hate-spewing Donald J. Trump, which makes it more fitting perhaps that she quietly but no less steadfastly occupies a ballot this election season on the opposing side.

Democrats selected Pou as their candidate to run to succeed the late Bill Pascrell, who died in August.  A 28-year veteran of the legislature, a Paterson native with deep-roots in Puerto Rico, she served in the Assembly representing LD-35 from 1997-2012, and as LD-35’s senator from 2012 to the present.

If she wins the Nov. 5th election against Republican candidate Billy Prempeh and goes to Congress, the mild-mannered Pou faces a swearing-in atmosphere at the United States Capitol potentially overcast by Trump, who enabled the desecration of the Capitol by his followers on Jan. 6th, 2021, and who is already trying to sow doubts about national election results with incendiary and misleading claims.

If Trump loses and Pou wins, what awaits her, and her fellow congresspeople elect as they prepare to take the oath of office?

The state senator is typically composed as she considers the question.

“It goes back to believing in the country,” she told InsiderNJ here at Bergen County Democratic headquarters. “We are a country of laws and we must recognize that and respect that. If we don’t recognize that and accept that, then that individual doesn’t belong in Washington.”

Pou added that should she win on Tuesday, “I’ll be going in with my eyes open. Things are different.”

She started running for office and party organizing at a young age – 17, in fact, and never stopped. In her career, in addition to securing monies for key government services in her district, Pou – a former Paterson business administrator – has focused in part on broadening the definition of human trafficking and increasing penalties, consumer protection, extended protections to victims of violence seeking restraining orders from assailants whether or not there is a pre-existing relationship, and juvenile justice reform. Signed into law by the late Acting Governor Sheila Oliver, the “Restorative and Transformative Justice for Youths and Communities” pilot program sponsored by the senator appropriated $4.2 million in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, for a total of $8.4 million over two years, to the Juvenile Justice Commission to assist with the process of reintegrating young people released from juvenile facilities back into their communities, aiming to prevent initial and/or repeated involvement with the youth justice system.

Now, Pou wants to go to Congress to work on those issues and others, especially related to affordability for working class people and freedom, she told InsiderNJ. “I am soft spoken,” she conceded. “But don’t misconstrue that as lack of strength. I will always be straightforward – respectful – but pointed. I am a strong decision maker and while Congress is very different, I’m prepared to learn and I am prepared to step into this position with my experience. Whether it’s Bergen, Passaic or Hudson, or throughout the country, the common issues concern the ability of people to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, schools that are safe, and protections for women’s reproductive freedom. On that last point, the fact that Trump and his enablers think they know better is beyond my comprehension.”

Pou this week reacted along with her Puerto Rican colleagues and others to the racist rally staged by Trump at Madison Square Garden, and the comments by a comedian likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”

Typically, as is Pou’s style, she refrained from slashing and burning.

“The statement was certainly disgusting, and one that should never have been used to create some kind of laughter, particularly given the beautiful island it is and all that has gone through,” she said.  “I was offended by it, especially given the fact that I have so many family members who live there. It is totally unacceptable. We should not be laughing, we should be condemning. And we should remember that this comedian was placed there to entertain the people who are supporting man who wants to be the leader of our country. This is a man who no respect for anyone. I want to be careful with my words and I want to make sure my emotions and strong feeling don’t take away from the message. The Trump campaign and his enablers have spewed so much hatred, we need to make sure we don’t do that as we stand up to in by remembering that we believe in one another in a country of immigrants.”

As Pou campaigns in the closing days of this election cycle, she is mindful of those she hopes to serve, and of the man she wishes to succeed in Congress, the feisty, impassioned, and justice-minded indefatigable Patersonian and American Bill Pascrell. “I want to reflect on the very person who was in this seat,” Pou told InsiderNJ. “Bill Pascrell was someone who served us with incredible commitment and love for the entire district and he could never be replaced. I am not looking to replace Bill but to fill the open seat that Bill held. His supporters speak about him with wonderful memory. I want to step into this district and build upon the incredible work Bill did.”

She wants to do it in her unique way, maybe not excitably or volubly, but certainly thoughtfully, and also historically, as New Jersey’s first Hispanic woman to hold a congressional seat, a Puerto Rican at that, appropriately energized to resist the other side, substantive, government-minded, and probably the last person, based on her record of public service and quiet and effective communication, to resort to hateful words.