for the first time in nearly two decades Latino lawmakers in New Jersey have a chance to pick a new leader state senator Nelly Poe has led the Latino caucus during that time but is leaving the seat vacant when she steps into her new role as congresswoman of New Jersey's Ninth District a seat left vacant in the passing of Congressman Bill pascrell well the shift in leadership leaves many questions about the future of Latino voices in New Jersey and National politics and who will be best to lead the Latino caucus as they work to address issues that matter most to their Community senior political correspondent David Cruz breaks down possible replacements for congresswoman elect Po and the impact it'll have on politics in our state one of the most powerful members of the legislature Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz would seem to be the obvious choice to succeed Nelly Poe who moves on to Congress next month as chair of the 12 person legislative Latino caucus the caucus which has been chaired by PO for almost two decades has reflected her low-key approach which Latino leaders across the state say has proven effective if you just look let's say at the driver's license for undocumented as an example right that was an issue that very thorny uh very hard to navigate you know but Nelly and the caucus worked with us the governor's office worked with us and other groups um and it's something that you probably wouldn't have seen in another state the caucus like all the legislative caucuses reflects the priorities of its members based in this case on their shared ethnicity but while immigration is an obvious priority housing Economic Opportunity and education are also part of the caucus Focus those also happen to be priorities for Ruiz as is growing the caucus which faces some losses and challenges in the new legislature recent US Senate primary candidate patrios Med says shairing the caucus comes with more than just duties in the legislature we have very effective legislators as part of the caucus of the Latino caucus right now A Teresa Senator Teresa reiz has a long record of legislating and driving key issues now what we always have to do and this is something that as as legislators they're going to have to learn to do is to be effective in driving priorities of the of the party but also uh Drive their own path so that they can also represent the communities whether it be New York or whether with Latinos or whatever other issues that they need to elevate for the entire community that represent that's the challenge now that we don't have a b Menendez or we don't have H somebody seen as one leader of Latinos Maria Rodriguez Greg a republican former assembly member says she was impressed by the largely female caucus and expressed optimism that that new leadership could provide a jolt of energy there might be different priorities depending on their district for some of their districts uh you know immigration and any of those issues uh may be very pressing in some other districts it may have to do with just your simple bread and butter economy issues and um ensuring that you know people have access and opportunity to to be successful that there's affordability I mean that's always very important lawmakers weren't talking about this on the record with us today Senator n saus Perez is one whose name has also been mentioned but she is said to not be interested as for Ruiz who as Majority Leader doesn't really need the extra clout caucus leadership would bring said she'd serve if she was asked but wasn't making any calls on her own behalf a vote is expected before the end of the year I'm David Cruz and Jane Spotlight news [Music]