Mejia Wins NJ-11 Election: Progressive Politics Prove Popular In Primary

Can a hardline progressive who supports taxing billionaires, creating universal health care and boosting the minimum wage get elected to Congress in New Jersey? The Garden State is about to find out.

With 96 percent of votes counted, the Associated Press called the Democratic primary in New Jersey's 11th congressional district for Analilia Mejia on Thursday evening.

The Feb. 5 special primary election to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill saw tens of thousands of votes throughout Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. The winners will match up against any independent or third-party candidates in a general election for all the marbles on April 16.

A huge field of candidates appeared on the Democratic ballot. In addition to Mejia, other candidates included Tom Malinowski, Tahesha Way, Brendan Gill, John Bartlett, Justin Strickland, Jeff Grayzel, Zachary Beecher, Cammie Croft, Anna Lee Williams, and J-L Cauvin. Two of the candidates who appeared on the Democratic ballot withdrew from the race before Election Day: Marc Chaaban and Dean Dafis.

The sole Republican candidate, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, ran unopposed. READ MORE: Meet The Only GOP Candidate Running For Sherrill's Congress Seat

The Democratic race remained too close to call after Election Day, largely due to thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots. The two frontrunners – Mejia, a seasoned activist and organizer, and Malinowski, a former U.S. congressman – remained neck-and-neck throughout the week, separated by less than 1,000 votes.

Malinowski finally conceded the race to Mejia on Tuesday, setting the stage for a “Mejia vs. Hathaway” matchup in April’s general election.

>> RELATED: ‘Too Close To Call’: Mejia, Malinowski React To Premature Election Night Projections In NJ

Mejia, a Glen Ridge resident, declared victory earlier this week at a press conference outside her campaign office in Montclair. She was backed by several labor unions and progressive advocacy groups – which campaigned heavily on her behalf in towns like Belleville, Bloomfield and Nutley.

It was an uphill battle from the beginning, she said.

“I want to set the record straight: for 10 weeks, we knew we were behind,” Mejia said. “We didn’t have the infrastructure the machinery would provide, and we didn’t have the millions of dollars our opponents had. We knew we would be outspent 10-1.”

But her campaign had a big ace up their sleeve, she added: the ability to organize.

According to Mejia, volunteers pulled out all the stops, making 300,000 phone calls, organizing a 1,200-person-strong door knocking blitz and raising $600,000 – mostly by talking to their neighbors and nailing down a flurry of $100 or less donations.

“You could find us at 6 a.m. speaking to voters, at a grocery store talking to voters, or on the doors and on the phones incessantly,” Mejia said. “Because that is how you win; in fact, that is how you will rebuild our democracy. Because what we are hungry for is an America that sees all of us as human.”

Mejia also addressed a controversial wave of attack ads against Malinowski from a super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which some pundits said may have cost him the election.

“While they did play a role in this race – confusing, rejecting, misinterpreting – what they didn’t do is win this for us,” Mejia said. “We won it through the people's power.”

• See Related: Malinowski Says ‘Dark Money’ Impacted NJ-11 Race

Mejia, the former director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, previously led campaigns for New Jersey’s $15 minimum wage and statewide paid sick leave laws. She served as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ national political director in 2020, and later as deputy director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor in the Joe Biden era. She was also honored as a “Champion for Change” by Barack Obama for her work advancing paid sick days.

Mejia spent a decade as a union organizer with 32BJ SEIU, UFCW and UNITE HERE. She currently serves as co-director of Popular Democracy, a national network of grassroots organizations.

The daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants, Mejia said her family struggled to make ends meet until her mom got a union job at a factory.

“I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the policies that liberated and uplifted my family,” she told attendees at last weekend’s rally in Essex County.

“I decided as a young child that I would dedicate myself to building that for other people,” Mejia said. “That is the kind of service I believe you should send to Congress.”

After the Associated Press called the race on Thursday, the presumptive Democratic nominee said that 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.

PROGRESSIVE POLITICS

Mejia’s campaign platform has been unapologetically progressive. According to her website, her agenda includes:

• “Hold Trump and his allies accountable for their corruption”
• “Taxing billionaires and big corporations to unrig the economy”
• “Guaranteeing universal health care and child care for every American”
• “Fixing and funding our crumbling infrastructure”

Stances like these have earned her the endorsement of progressive icons like Sen. Sanders of Vermont, who called her a “consistent fighter for the people of New Jersey.”

“Analilia led efforts to ensure families had access to earned sick days, health care, and fair wages, and she has proven herself a true movement leader,” Sanders said.

“At a moment when oligarchs and corporate interests continue to capture our government, we need true progressives to take our country back for working Americans,” he added.

Mejia has earned an endorsement for the special general election on April 16 from Sherrill. Several congress members from New Jersey have also thrown their support behind the longtime activist: Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, and Reps. Donald Norcross, Herb Conaway, Frank Pallone, Rob Menendez, Nellie Pou, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

Other big-name politicians who have backed Mejia include U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka also backed Mejia’s candidacy, praising her “decades of advocacy, leadership and commitment to uplifting communities too often overlooked by Washington.”

“Analilia has spent her entire career fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with working people, leading the fights for a $15 minimum wage and paid sick days,” said Baraka, who saw the second-highest vote total in last year’s Democratic primary election for New Jersey governor.

• Read More: NJ Mayor's Strong Showing In Primary Gives Progressives Hope

This lineup of supporters – and the recent election victory of democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani – has already drawn a fiery response from Mejia’s GOP opponent, Joe Hathaway, who has labeled her as a “far-left professional agitator” and socialist.

“Her far-left politics are way out of step with District 11 values, will make our towns less safe, and voters will reject her record on April 16,” Hathaway charged.

• See Related: Mejia Seeks Progressive Vote In NJ-11 Election To Replace Sherrill

WHERE IS THE 11TH DISTRICT?

New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District includes the following municipalities:

Essex County – Belleville, Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Montclair (part), North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, South Orange, West Caldwell

Morris County – Boonton, Boonton Township, Butler, Chatham, Chatham Township, Denville, Dover, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Madison, Mendham Twp (part), Montville, Morris Plains, Morris Township, Morristown Town, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Pequannock, Randolph, Riverdale, Rockaway, Rockaway Township, Victory Gardens

Passaic County – Little Falls, Totowa, Wayne (part), Woodland Park

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