Activist Analilia Mejia Wins Dem Nod In NJ Special Election

Sophie Nieto-Munoz and Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor

February 17, 2026

Activist Analilia Mejia has won the Democratic nomination in the 11th Congressional District after defeating 10 other candidates who sought to succeed Gov. Mikie Sherrill in the House.

The Associated Press called the race for Mejia on Thursday, one week after polls closed in the special primary. Mejia won about 29% of the vote and leads her closest competitor, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, by 1,107 votes.

Mejia claimed victory on Tuesday after Malinowski conceded defeat.

“This was a race about the future of our country and the future of our party, and the voters sent a clear message. They want leaders who are unbought, unbossed, and ready to take our country back from the billionaires and MAGA extremists,” Mejia said in a statement.

She now faces Republican Mayor Joe Hathaway in the April 16 special election to fill the rest of Sherrill’s term, which expires Jan. 3, 2027. Sherrill resigned from Congress after winning last year’s gubernatorial race.

The 11th District is a collection of towns in Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. It was long controlled by the GOP until 2018, when Sherrill won it for the Democratic Party. Its boundaries have since been redrawn to make it a safer seat for Democrats to win.

Mejia is set to run again in the June primary and November general election to win the two-term term that begins in January.

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