well the presidential race may be a tossup but many of the congressional seats up for grabs in New Jersey are heavily favored for incumbents and Democrats that appears to be the case for state senator Nellie Poe the Democratic nominee in the Ninth District who's expected to win the race against Republican Billy Prempeh and replace the late Congressman Bill pascrell but Pou is also facing push back from many in her own party over support of Israel's war in Gaza especially from residents in patteron the heart of the district and home to the largest per capita palestinian-american population of any City in the nation senior political correspondent David Cruz digs in to whether the issue could affect her [Music] votes the race for the ninth congressional district is most significant because someone other than the late bill pascrell will be representing it for the first time since the late 1900s but in a race where a loyal Latina Democrat is facing a trump supporting Republican African immigrant the battle lines are still very familiar my opponent cannot be more different than than than I am my opponent believes in uh conspiracy theories my opponent does not believe in Freedom the freedom for a woman to have the ability to to to uh her reproductive uh rights I'm not necessarily bringing a giant platform from the national level and bringing it here locally um and I think by doing that and talking with the people finding out what's on their mind and realizing that the situation is a lot more nuan example the Israel Palestine conflict and in Paterson for instance which makes up the majority of this District that's an issue that hits home for the thousands of Palestinians and Arabs who live here bill Pascrell was facing some heat from these voters and from the looks of it that's not easing speaking personally Wassim Kanaan with American Muslims for Palestine says voters should look beyond the two major party candidates because neither Pou nor Prempeh seems to really get it state senator Pou's response to a question in regard to an arms embargo on Israel was astonishingly uninformed she doesn't understand first and foremost the basics of the current situation in Gaza and then second she doesn't understand uh uh you military aid as a process no one wants this more than every single you know individual certainly everyone in Patterson everyone in throughout the country everyone I speak to wants to be able to have an immediate resolution to this uh situation that's happening in the Middle East I see a lot of people on the conservative side you have to support Israel a lot of people on the liberal side you got to support Palestine I don't support either side I support the United States of America and I'm running to represent the United States of America you're an American they're an American we have to come to a more diplomatic solution so that talking point of not funding foreign governments is a [Music] um an argument of the trumping of the part of of the Republican party so that answer signals to me more broadly where he falls in under the Republican tent um and so that's what concerns me is that okay when you say you we shouldn't be sending money to foreign countries are you then saying that we should be spending money on uh uh housing and food and mental Wellness on people or are you going to come at me with let's build the wall in the Battle of ideas if history is any guide most voters here would be pro-Pou which despite some shaky debate performances by the Democrat is likely how this race will break she only just gotten this race she hasn't been able to study issues for a year the way that other candidates have had to study the issues prea is clearly a thoughtful guy who has put a lot of thought into these positions that he's taken um he is a veteran um so he's a really interesting candidate he's a an immigrant um he's a person of color um so he is definitely outside of the mold and the mainstream for a republican candidate Prempeh is counting on that to turn voters away from Pou but Pou knows that this is still a solidly democratic seat and with two weeks to go she only has to stay on course in order to win I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news [Music]