as it's been noted Democrats could potentially make history now if Pou defeats the Republican Challenger Billy Prempeh this fall she'll be the first Latina to represent New Jersey in Congress coincidentally Pou got her start in politics when she was appointed in 1997 to fill a seat in the State Assembly vacated when pascrell was first elected to congress Pou held the seat until 2012 when she moved up to the Senate and has won four re-elections since then State Senate Senor Nellie Pou joins me [Music] now Senator first of all congratulations uh I'm sure it's been a whirlwind process and given the short Runway to the election does that mean that campaigning starts today it certainly does it does start today actually um let me just say that um we're ready and we're ready to run I want to mention that you know this week obviously um has been mixed with emotion both heavy and grief and with but at the same time full of Hope the passing of my dear friend and Mentor bill Pascrell has certainly left an impact to all of us he was our beloved uh Ser he was a beloved servant someone who truly was known all throughout his uh uh congressional district but all throughout the the the state and the nation because his voice was loud and was heard loud and clear he was a true fighter someone who I absolutely highly respected so it comes with that mix emotion I'm sure it must feel surreal that it was almost 30 years ago when you filled his uh State Legislative seat now here you are potentially going to fill his congressional seat uh we've all talked about how he was a a fighter you know he didn't mince words so how do you plan to take uh all of the mentorship that I know that he gave to you into not just running but if you are elected well you know I I um I we all know how Bill roed and how big of a person he was in terms of making sure that his voice was heard I will be working equally as hard if um and I probably would say that I would have to work even harder because I know that I need to begin uh establishing the groundwork from day one I'm prepared to do that I feel that I'm uh my all my years in service uh has allowed to prepar me for this next step I so Senator what's at the top then of your priority list um for the issues that you're going to focus on in the state you've done a lot with uh your seat in the Judiciary Committee criminal justice Juvenile Justice Reform what do you see then as the top issues for your District uh on the federal level I would say that some of the uh issues that are important to us on a federal level are very much the same kind of issues that we see daytoday it's all about making sure that we build Upon Our infrastructure it's about making sure that we address some of the economic needs that are important to our entire District it's important that we have the proper access and accessibility to Health Care builing upon making uh our educational system greater and and able to ensure that those resources are available for uh my district very quickly you mentioned that you plan to build upon the foundation that the late Congressman laid uh where do you stand is there any discrepancy in your stance about sending military aid to allies like Israel um those in the district in Paterson there was of course some conflict given the makeup of the district um having a large arab-american Palestinian American population would you say you stand uh with the late Congressman uh in a similar stance I do believe that um it's important for us to continue the the work of making sure to protect to support our allies and I am I'm I strongly believe that that's something that we need to continue to do but with respect to your question about setting limitations or so forth uh my position would be similar to that of um our Lake Congressman making sure that we provide the necessary resources to um our all of our allies and certainly um uh we know that that would be important setting limitations at this time would not be the thing to do and I would be um looking to um continue that effort state senator and now Democratic Congressional nominee Nellie Pou thanks so much for your time thank you Briana [Music]