the death of Congressman Donald Payne Jr in April came just before the primary election and too late for a primary race to replace him that timing meant that his name appeared on the ballot and he won the Primary poisly but now the race for his 10th congressional seat is underway with a jam-packed field of democratic contenders and while they all faced off in a forum earlier this week senior political correspondent David Cruz looks at the long-term strategy for replacing the seat that may not include voters at all the list of Democrats running in this special primary election is long 11 in all in a race to succeed the late Donald Payne Jr who died in April but this primary is only the beginning as explained by assada Man Of The Institute for social justice which co-sponsored the candidate Forum in Newark this week a special election has been scheduled to select a representative a new representative to serve out the remainder of of Congressman pay's term which uh once this person's elected they'll be serving for just about three months but the winners of the primary will face off in a special general election in September to fill the last few months of pay's term but then there's the general general election for a full term in Congress that'll be in November to select that candidate voters are out of the loop Democratic County committee members from The Three Counties that cover the district will hold a special General a special convention excuse me a special convention to select a new nominee to appear on the ballot for the regular general election in November the Forum was also co-sponsored by NJIT the pan helenic Council and the Newark branch of the NAACP with close to 500 in attendance the event suggested more interest not less from a district that has been represented by the pain family for decades we had almost 500 people there right right we did and and so that showed that the community had a need and a want to know what the process was and also to hear the candidates for themselves one person called and said um that they were very appreciative and and now they were going to know who to tell their family members who to vote for which says something from a forum made up of progressive candidates that saw more agreement than descent rents are high mortgages are high people can't buy housing food is high and that is a problem we need somebody in Congress who is not afraid to talk about reparations who is not afraid to talk about the very specific unique issues that black people are dealing with in this country our affordable housing is not affordable no more they basically on an average of $62,000 a person and not a lot of people in my community make that but this is politics after all in Essex County to boot so one of the most powerful political organizations in the state is not likely to leave choosing the next 10th District representative to voters entirely which could render this primary election moot seeing as how almost every Democrat with any skin in the game including the governor himself has weighed in on behalf of L Monica mcgyver current New York City Council president let's say Jerry Walker wins this primary I is he could end up being a mood point because the you guys are all behind L Monica well I mean there's going to be an election for the unexpired term that's the election that we're having a primary for and then the district leaders will get together to elect to select who represents Donald Payne on the ballot for the full term and there's no reason why the same person couldn't win both in a field of 10 argues elasia can a winner who gets 18% of the vote say they really represent the will of the people it would be a surprise to many if this election Drew even in low double digits but if this week's form is any indication voters may have more interest than the pundits or even party officials believe I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news