Analilia Mejia Sworn In As NJ’s Newest Congresswoman

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia was sworn into office on Monday, becoming New Jersey’s newest member of the House of Representatives.

Voters in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district picked a replacement for Gov. Mikie Sherrill on April 16. Sherrill was required to resign from her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives when she was elected governor.

Mejia, a Glen Ridge resident, matched up against Joe Hathaway and Alan Bond in a special general election to fill the remainder of Sherrill’s unexpired term. The Associated Press has declared Mejia as the winner.

• RELATED: Mejia Says Progressive Causes Were Key To NJ-11 Election Victory

Hathaway, the Republican candidate, conceded the race about an hour after polls closed.

• RELATED: NJ Republican Craves Rematch In Battle For Sherrill’s Congress Seat

Now that Mejia is officially in the House, Republicans hold a slim 217-214 majority over Democrats, The Hill reported.

Mejia delivered her first speech on the house floor Monday. Read the text of her speech as prepared below:

"Good evening.

"It is a privilege and an honor to stand before you. We, the privileged few, are honored with the responsibility to represent the interests of our fellow Americans at home and to the world.

"I thank my new colleagues for your warm welcome and the great people of New Jersey's 11th Congressional district for their trust. I want to thank my husband, Robert, and my two children, Langston and August for being my best supporters. You three mean the world to me. I also want to thank my sister Anaisa, and my two mothers Luz and Michele and my dear departed father Francisco for always standing alongside me.

"My presence in this chamber is, in many ways, an unlikely reality. I am the daughter of a Dominican factory worker and a Colombian seamstress who knew struggle.

"And yet, I stand before you, representing the great 11th congressional district of New Jersey, a place rich in history and eager to make more.

"I bring you greetings from Morristown, where George Washington led through the harsh winters of the Revolutionary War.

"As well as greetings from Bloomfield, which led the way on access to public education for all and from every corner of the 11th, eager to hear how we shall work together to improve the lives of the many I am honored to represent.

"Mr. Speaker, there is an African proverb that says; If you wish to know the end, you must strive to understand the beginning. This proverb feels timely, as I begin my tenure in this lauded space, at the precipice of our nation's 250th anniversary. As I address this body I am ever present to the fact that it was conceived and designed as the people’s house, a counter-weight at critical moments, where the people may have the fullest say.

"I stand before you on this day, the 20th of April. On this date in 1871, “An Act to enforce the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other Purposes,” also known as the “Ku Klux Klan Act” was signed, an attempt by We the People to make true the promise of freedom and equity hard earned through conflict and peace making.

"The third in a series of “Enforcement Acts”, it was designed to protect the civil and political rights of individuals, under threat by the violence of vigilante groups intent to deny the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to those who earned it through blood, sweat and tears.

"The 14th amendment defined citizenship and guaranteed due process and equal protection of the law to all Americans. Vigilante groups like the Ku Klux Klan, however, threatened by the idea of an expansive freedom used violence to undermine the Republican Party’s plan for Reconstruction.

"The Ku Klux Klan Act made it a federal crime to deny any group or individual “any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protection, named in the Constitution.”

"In a moment in which a state sanctioned vigilante group threatens due process and equal protections and our highest court questions citizenship clearly defined in our constitution, it is important that we strive to understand the beginning, so that we may protect what we hold dear, through the end.

"I join you today with a message delivered by the people of New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, but echoed nationally.

"Stand up.

"Defend.

"Restore.

"Not just our democracy, but also a just economy that actually works for working people.

"Stand up for folks like Bob, a retired fire captain who served at Ground Zero, struggling to access healthcare because of staffing cuts and hiring freezes. Stand up for Mary, who alongside her husband dropped their own health coverage just to afford their child’s college tuition.

"Think about Larry and Joe, who work hard every day and deserve a just retirement in their golden years.

"These are not abstract policy debates. These are the real consequences of the decisions made in this chamber. At a time when our Constitution and our rights are under strain, we are called not just to serve, but to stand up, to protect, and to deliver on the promise of equal protection and justice under the law.

"That is the work ahead of us and we must be ready to take that mantle.

"I thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back."

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