District: NJ-09
Cook Political Ranking: Lean D
Performance Voter Index: D+2
Rep. Nellie Pou was elected to serve New Jersey’s 9th congressional district in 2024. Prior to serving in Congress, Pou served in the New Jersey General Assembly since 1997, and went on to represent the 35th district in the New Jersey Senate and was the first woman and Latina elected to this seat. New Jersey’s 9th congressional district is in the Northeastern part of the state and it encompasses all or portions of 3 counties and 35 municipalities. Heading into the 2024 cycle, the late Democratic incumbent Rep. Bill Pascrell won his primary for this district inJune. Sadly, he passed away shortly after his primary. The New Jersey Democratic party selected Rep. Pou to replace Pascrell on the ballot, setting the stage for Rep. Pou to become the first Latina to serve this district in Congress.

At the start of last cycle, NJ-09 had a PVI ranking of D+8 but due to growing frustrations from voters within the Latinx, Orthodox Jewish and Palestinian communities, this district increasingly moved to the right. Rep. Pou faced a tighter race than expected and defeated Republican Billy Prempeh by 5 percentage points (12,575 votes). Prempeh had run as the Republican nominee for this seat for the past 3 cycles and lost to Pascrell by double figures twice. Rep. Pou proved to be a solid fundraiser, raising $642,843 in 5 months and significantly outraising Prempeh. Outside spending was not much of a factor here with super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups spending just shy of $115,000 in this race.