Analilia Mejia defeated Republican Mayor Joe Hathaway on Thursday in a special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, a seat left vacant after Mikie Sherrill resigned when she won the governorship. The progressive Democrat and former national political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign prevailed in the district that includes parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties.
Mejia now takes over a seat that Sherrill had held after winning reelection in 2024 with about 56% of the vote, in a district where Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump by 53% in the presidential race that same year. Mejia is expected to run again in November for a full term.
The result was widely expected to stay in Democratic hands, but the path to it exposed deep fault lines inside the party. Party primaries were held in February, and the Democratic contest drew more than a dozen candidates across ideological lines, turning the race into a proxy battle between progressives and more centrist establishment figures.
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski was among the most prominent contenders, and Mejia defeated him after a late surge in Election Day voting overcame his early lead from mail-in ballots. Outside spending in the primary reached millions of dollars, and Democratic strategists said heavy spending by AIPAC against the moderate-leaning Malinowski helped energize progressive voters. Alan Bond also ran as an independent candidate.
In a statement to MS NOW, Mejia said, “We are fed up with the chaos coming out of Washington — from rising prices to attacks on our democracy,” and added, “This is our chance to reject MAGA extremis.” Her win keeps the district in Democratic hands, but it also underscored how much the party’s internal fights can shape even races that are supposed to be safe.
New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District has moved away from its Republican roots over the past decade, and Democratic presidential and congressional candidates have won comfortably there in recent cycles. With Thursday’s special election settled, the next test comes in November, when Mejia is expected to face voters again, this time for a full term.
