Photo by Adrienne J. Romero / SOC Images.
In a time where many Americans feel that democracy is threatened and political violence “is a major problem,” New Jersey 10th District Congresswoman LaMonica McIver advised that now is not the time to back down. Instead, it’s crucial to remain informed and engaged with local and national happenings.
And her team promised to continuously help in ensuring that.
McIver visited St. Peter’s University on Aug. 6 as part of the Hudson County Employer Legislative Committee Series (ELC), which allows conversations with state and local officials to discuss policy issues or projects that impact local businesses. The congresswoman spent the morning talking about key issues that affect not only business owners, but all Hudson County residents including: affordability, immigration, equitable development, AI, transportation and civic engagement.
“We need folks to stay engaged and stay informed. There’s so many things happening, and this [Trump] administration’s motto is, ‘The time to be woke is over.’ They always say, ‘There’s no more wokeness…’ I mean, if we’re not woke, we’re asleep… They would love to stress you out to the point when you’re not engaged. That is the method,” McIver told the crowd.
“And so if you can stay engaged with us, make sure that you’re signed up for our weekly newsletter, make sure that you’re contacting the office [and] if you need anything know that we are at service to you. Even if it’s not even us, we’ll connect you to someone that would be able to help you.”
But First, Who Is LaMonica McIver?
McIver, a product of Newark’s Central Ward, was sworn into Congress on Sept. 23, 2024 following the untimely death of Donald Payne Jr., who died in April after a heart attack. At the ELC Series, McIver acknowledged the legacy of the Payne family, and said she’s standing on their shoulders as she continues her work.
She got interested in politics at the age of 10, thanks to her teacher, Ras Baraka, who is now the current mayor of Newark.
Since then, she has been an advocate for civic engagement, housing, healthcare and education. She also founded nonprofit Newark G.A.L.S., which nurtures future female leaders, and has become the youngest woman to serve Newark City Council, including three years as council president.
Now, as a U.S. representative of New Jersey’s 10th district—which covers Union, Hudson and Essex Counties—McIver is part of the big conversations in Washington D.C. and is tasked with introducing bills and resolutions, offering amendments and serving on committees.
At the ELC talk, she showed that her advocacy and fights for everyday people have not changed.
“There’s a lot going on. You come on the news every day. You see this country is in distress. Everything is in a crisis. Our constitution, our democracy, you name it, we can spend all day here talking about all of the things that are happening right now,” McIver told the crowd on Aug. 6.
“… I always ask people, ‘Is your life better since Jan. 20? Are you feeling better? Are you doing better? Are you making more money? How’s things going for you?’ And if the answer is no, which [are] many people I represent, they’re like, no, it’s crazy… So it’s just been truly disappointing. Especially coming from the local level… Those are some of my biggest disappointments and the opportunity to be able to get things done.”
And McIver gave thoughts on these issues and how she thinks it could—or should—turn around.
Immigration: ‘It’s About Getting Up For People’s Rights’
“It’s not so much just about the immigration piece. It’s about getting up for people’s rights regardless, right? This administration feels as though they can do whatever they want to do. I mean, literally we see a president that has weaponized the DOJ [Department of Justice]
This is what we deal with each and every day from this administration. And those things are not right… And so for me, it’s about standing up for people in general… Immigration is in our backyards. It’s at our front doorstep. In New Jersey, which we’re home to 2 million immigrants here.”
McIver, a Democrat, was charged with three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials, which combined carries a maximum nine years in prison. She was one of three House Democrats along with Newark Mayor Baraka who visited a privately-owned and recently reopened detention facility, Delaney Hall. Baraka was arrested and accused with trespassing, which prompted a “scuffle” between the House members, immigration officials and protestors.
McIver has since pleaded not guilty.
Affordability & Equitable Development: ‘We Need To Do More’
In 2024, New Jersey ranked as one of the most expensive states to live in.
“We live in these cities and you see the city’s growing. You see new companies coming in, but then the people that have been here are not benefiting. Development is not just supposed to benefit the people that are coming in and new people coming into the city. What about the people who are here? What about the businesses that have been here?
So some of the things we created have been different organizations like our Invest Newark, where we try to offer low loan programs, where we try to do more different programs for home ownership and different things of that nature.
And so that’s how I see in some of these things that we’ve implemented in work, I feel like they can be statewide implementations to be able to help, folks be, become homeowners, help folks with their businesses. And so there’s a variety of different programs that we’ve implemented through that program. Even just business acceleration programs for free that folks can get into to be able to help them. Those are things that we really should be striving to have more of.”
AI: ‘We Need To Educate More People’
“I think there’s no regulations around it. There’s not enough. And I think this administration is not interested at all in that they have literally given them the upper hand, [allowing] the tech bros and gals of the world to do as they pleased. And we have to change that.
We’re going to be trying to put on an AI summit… to educate people on what it means, what jobs are at stake, how people that look like us every day in our communities [can] get involved, number one, which is a problem too. And so there’s a lot of work to do around that.”
Transportation: We Need To Do Better For Everyday Residents
The PATH train and New Jersey Transit has been riddled with issues this past summer.
“We are assisting with federal dollars to be able to help these organizations and entities be able to strengthen the transportation hubs here in New Jersey. [With] PATH, definitely a lot of work there needs to be done. We are looking to meet with them to talk about how we can better support them and how more authority is supporting them as well in some of the work that they’re doing.
… I know there’s been a lot of conversation about, ‘Hey, we are trying to get prepared for the World Cup… I love it. Like, we should do it. It helps businesses. It’s great for us. It’s good attraction, but everyday businesses and residents, we need to do better because we need to do better for you all too. And for those folks that live in these areas, not just because the [FIFA] World Cup’s coming.”
Local Civic Engagement: Meet The People Where They Are
To end off the talk, McIver told Slice of Culture about the importance of remaining informed and engaged, especially within the younger demographics, as well as how someone can take some little steps to get there.
“People are unengaged because of their current situations and elected officials and people in organizations are not doing enough or creating ways to engage people. Like they’re not doing that. And that’s why I’m a big component of meeting people where they are… It’s my job to care for the people who knock on my door and the ones who don’t.
Most of the time they’re the ones who most need it–the ones who did not knock. And so we spend a lot of time meeting people where they are… We go to different municipalities and bring the services there rather than telling you, ‘Hey, come to my office over here.’ Like, no, we are gonna come to you… Like the same way you know about the popups that Macy’s has [laughs]. Let me show you how what I’m doing…
I just think it’s a matter of people really putting together strategic ways of how you meet people, where they are, engage ’em, inform them, pull them back into the fold. But then also too, we have to have conversations and pull in young people to the table so that they can have a seat there and talk about the issues that matter to them.”
McIver and her team sends out weekly newsletters on what’s been happening, encourages residents to reach out and more. Everything can be found here: https://mciver.house.gov/.
