And a historic moment for New Jersey as LaMonica McIver was sworn in to the House last night in Washington, D.C. She'll represent the state's 10th congressional district, succeeding the late Representative Donald Payne Jr., who died in April.

McIver overwhelmingly won in a special election last week and was surrounded by her family.

And Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, when she took the oath, whom she credited with introducing her to politics at the age of ten.

The House stood and applauded McIver after she was sworn in to the seat.

Congressman Frank Pallone said the 38 year old Newark native represents a series of firsts.

As the youngest person ever elected to Newark City Council, the youngest elected as the council's president and now as the youngest person elected to Congress on behalf of New Jersey.

Newly seated Congresswoman LaMonica McIver is with me now to talk about what comes next.

Congresswoman McIver, great to talk to you.

What was that experience like, having your family by your side, standing there before the delegation and taking this very serious oath?

It was unbelievable.

Honestly, it was the honor and a humble, humble experience to be there.

Definitely surreal moment.

You know, all of the campaigning that we put in for the last 19 weeks really takes a full perspective last night.

So it definitely was just an honor to be there and I needed to go home and like kind of sleep it through to see you.

Hey, is this real?

But definitely it's an honor for me to be currently serving as the congresswoman at the 10th Congressional District as of last night.

Well, it sounds like they didn't give you much time to let it sink in.

Just given the schedule that you had today for us to catch up with you, have you gotten committee assignments?

Where are you going to be serving?

So currently, just for the time until we end out this Congress session, I'm serving on homeland security and small business.

Really looking forward to putting whatever effort I can into these last couple of weeks of this Congress on those two committees.

So super excited about that.

Thankful to the steering committee for signing me to those two very important committees.

Do you have a list already of legislative priorities that you're planning to tackle?

I mean, you mentioned this session is going to be short for you because, of course, you're back on the the ballot in November.

But what do you hope to tackle?

Well, right now, I mean, I think we're getting acclimated with, you know, just trying to learn all of the, you know, ins and outs of it.

I think for me, one of the focuses is to make sure that we're providing service for the people of the 10th Congressional District.

As you know, we've been without a member since April.

And I think people are just, you know, in dire need of certain services that, you know, the federal government should be offering.

So we're really looking forward to making sure we get the district district offices up and going and making sure that we're able to serve the residents of the congressional.

That is the priority for this short period of time.

Obviously, you know, I've been on this show multiple times talking about some of the issues in the 10th Congressional that are important to me, especially around affordability.

But I think in a short span, we're just trying to make sure that we have services, you know, we're ready and willing to serve the people of the 10th Congressional District in this short time span.

There's a lot of talk, of course, you stepped down from your role as Newark City council president, but of the fact that you're the youngest person to be elected to Congress from New Jersey.

How do you think your work, both in Newark as city council president and also being a younger member of this delegation, will inform what you bring to the table?

Well, I think I bring a younger perspective, and I don't mean that as in, you know, young, youthful all the time.

I think, you know, people under 40 who have families, they have young children.

You know, sometimes their voices are not always at the table, especially at the federal level.

And I think being able to bring that perspective, you know, definitely sets the tone.

I think at the same time, I'm always advocating for young people, asking them to, you know, get involved and engage with what's happening politically and civically because, you know, when you're not at the table, when you're not informed, most of the time you're on the menu.

And I try to explain that to a younger generation of young voters, to being engaged to what's happening.

But I definitely for me, I'm looking forward to bringing a perspective that is relatable and definitely in tune to, you know, are Americans, you know, of today in the different challenges that they're facing.

Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, thanks so much for your time.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.