Longtime Rep. Invoice Pascrell (D-NJ) defeated an anti-Israel New Jersey mayor within the Backyard State’s ninth Congressional District Democratic major Tuesday, a race that centered on divisions over the Israel-Hamas struggle.
Pascrell, 87, beat Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah for the Democratic nomination for Congress by a whopping 54-point margin, receiving 77% of the vote with greater than three-quarters of ballots in.
The 14-term Home member — first elected to Congress in 1996 — has been a staunch supporter of Israel, declaring final December that Israelis “have each proper to guard themselves and defend themselves” within the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on the Jewish state.
“From the underside of my coronary heart, thanks for trusting me once more, NJ-09,” Pascrell wrote on X after his victory.
“I’ll by no means cease preventing for our neighbors. I really like New Jersey! American democracy itself is on the poll this fall,” he stated in a separate put up.
Pascrell, an Military vet and former mayor of Paterson, was pressured to defend his vote to approve $26.4 billion in US army help to Israel and his insistence that any cease-fire be contingent on “freed hostages” amid a Khairullah marketing campaign centered on opposing Israel’s struggle in opposition to Hamas.
Khairullah’s marketing campaign was buoyed by Prospect Park’s sizable Palestinian American inhabitants.
The Syrian native moved to New Jersey in 1980, and apart from his mayorship, he works as an assistant principal at Passaic County Tech-Vocational Faculties.
Forward of the first election, Khairullah posted photographs on Instagram of himself alongside embattled New York “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) — each Israel critics.
Final Spring, Khairullah claimed he was positioned on an FBI terror watchlist after being denied entry by the Secret Service to an Eid al-Fitr celebration on the White Home.
He beforehand alleged that he was racially profiled after being detained at JFK Airport and questioned about terrorism after coming back from a visit to Turkey.
Pascrell, the co-chairman of the Congressional Regulation Enforcement Caucus, acquired robust help from the Democratic institution, together with Home Democratic Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
In September, Pascrell known as on Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign following his indictment on federal corruption expenses.
Pascrell will grow to be the oldest member of the Home of Representatives ought to he defeat 34-year-old Billy Prempeh, the Republican nominee for the ninth District, in November.
He can be practically 89 by the top of his subsequent time period if re-elected.
