William D. Payne (born July 8, 1932) is an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 until 2008 where he represented the 29th legislative district.

[9] Among legislation successfully sponsored and cosponsored by Assemblyman Payne are legislation allocating funds which enabled the Newark Boys Chorus to perform in the Union of South Africa, a bill providing $750,000 to establish school-based mentoring programs for at-risk students in Abbott Districts.

Assemblyman Payne's Amistad legislation established the Amistad Commission to incorporate African American history and contributions into the K-12 curriculum in New Jersey schools and, the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement and all civil service employees has been criminalized in New Jersey by landmark legislation of which Assemblyman Payne was the lead sponsor.

[1] Payne decided to challenge incumbent Mayor of Newark Sharpe James in the May 1994 election.

[10][11] In the November 2007 general election, Teresa Ruiz and her Assembly running mates Alberto Coutinho and L. Grace Spencer won the three seats from the district.

Ruiz won with 57.8% of the vote, defeating five other candidates, including Democrats-running-as independents Luis Quintana (with 15.9%) in second place and Payne who came in third with 15.7%, earning .

Payne's other nephew, Craig A. Stanley, also served in the General Assembly, where he represented the 28th legislative district from 1996 to 2008.