Bill Pascrell, longtime N.J. congressman and fierce Trump critic, dies at 87

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell, whose career in rough-and-tumble New Jersey politics spanned four decades and who in his later years became known for his sharp barbs against Donald Trump, died on Wednesday, according to a statement from his family posted on his official X account.

He was 87.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that Bill Pascrell Jr., our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning,” the statement said. “As our United States Representative, Bill fought to his last breath to return to the job he cherished and to the people he loved. Bill lived his entire life in Paterson and had an unwavering love for the city he grew up in and served. He is now at peace after a lifetime devoted to our great nation America.”

Pascrell’s passing comes as Democrats are gathered for their convention in Chicago where Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination. Those who could pay tribute to Pascrell from the convention stage on Wednesday include Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“In the Congress, Congressman Pascrell has been a relentless champion of America’s working families — fighting for workers’ rights and investments in the education of our children,” Pelosi, a fellow Italian American who served for decades with Pascrell, wrote in a post on X.

“He was a proud co-chair of the Congressional Italian-American Delegation and took great pride in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution — and he never let us forget any of it!”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said Pascrell “will be remembered most fondly for leading the fight for our families in Congress over the past 27 years.”

And Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on X that Pascrell’s “was a life of service. Prior to Congress, Bill served his country honorably in the United States Army, and then his community of Paterson, NJ in local and state government. He will be missed.”

The 14-term congressman was hospitalized for nearly a month this summer after experiencing a fever related to a respiratory illness. He was discharged to a rehabilitation center on Aug. 7 but was readmitted to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., just four days later.

The feisty octogenarian was the second-oldest House member, behind only retiring Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif. The oldest member of Congress is Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who turns 91 on Sept. 17.

Pascrell was the second New Jersey congressman to die this year. Fellow Democrat Donald Payne Jr. died on April 24 at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack related to diabetes complications.

Pascrell had been running for re-election to his 9th District seat in November.

Because the vacancy has occurred before an Aug. 27 deadline — 70 days before the general election — Democratic county committee members will be able to handpick a new nominee by Aug. 29, according to state election law.

Pascrell had been seeking a 15th term and was the favorite against Republican Billy Prempeh, his opponent during his last two elections. In 2022, Pascrell defeated Prempeh by more than double digits, 55% to 43% in the deep-blue 9th Congressional District; Joe Biden trounced Trump there in 2020 by 19 percentage points.

The grandson of Italian immigrants, William James Pascrell Jr. was born on Jan. 25, 1937, in Paterson, New Jersey’s third-largest city where he would later be elected mayor. He served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserve and was honorably discharged in 1967.

After attending Fordham University, where he received a B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in philosophy, Pascrell taught high school history and was an adjunct professor.

He got his start in politics during the late 1970s through local school boards: first with the Paterson Board of Education, where he served as president, then as a member of Passaic County Community College’s Board of Trustees.

Pascrell won election to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1987. Just a few years later, he won the mayor’s race in Paterson and held both offices simultaneously — a common practice in the Garden State at the time — until he was elected to Congress in 1996.

In Washington, Pascrell served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure, Homeland Security, Budget and Small Business committees. Since 2007, he had been a member of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, where he led the fight for access to Trump’s personal tax returns.

Throughout his time in Congress, Pascrell fought for the restoration of the full state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction, beneficial to his New Jersey constituents; the development of offshore wind energy and other clean energy projects; and to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury, specifically among soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But a younger generation came to know Pascrell through his acerbic, unabashedly partisan attacks on Trump — delivered through the then-president’s favorite method of communication: Twitter, now known as X.

After Trump’s now-infamous “s-–-hole countries” remark, Pascrell tweeted that Trump had “made a fool of himself” on the world stage and was “showing his bigoted tendencies in ways that would make Archie Bunker blush.”

Later, he bashed Trump and “his soulless goons” for “countless dead Americans” over their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

More recently, Pascrell had been posting on X on a daily basis: “Good morning. Republican donald trump is a convicted criminal,” with a photo of Trump and the word: “FELON.”

On May 12, Pascrell tweeted a dire warning about the possibility of a second Trump presidency.

“Numerous news reports and donald trump’s own words have revealed trump is planning to impose a dictatorship and use the military against his critics if he seizes power again,” he tweeted alongside a tank with a Trump sticker trampling over the American flag. “I am going to post this repeatedly so no one can say they haven’t been told.”

Pascrell is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Elsie Marie Botto; three children; and five grandchildren.