Malinowski Concedes NJ-11 Election To Mejia, Says ‘Dark Money’ Impacted Race

Analilia Mejia has triumphed in New Jersey’s 11th district, Tom Malinowski says.

On Tuesday morning, Malinowski conceded one of the state’s biggest races of the year to Mejia, congratulating her on a “hard won victory” in a special primary election to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill in Congress.

The Associated Press still hasn’t declared a winner in the Feb. 5 election. With 93 percent of ballots counted, Mejia has 18,584 votes (29.1 percent) and Malinowski is at 17,695 votes (27.7 percent). See the latest unofficial results here.

Thursday’s special primary election saw tens of thousands of votes throughout Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. The race remained too close to call heading into the weekend, with thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots still outstanding and yet to be counted.

• See Related: ‘Too Close To Call’: NJ Dems React To Premature Election Projections

In addition to Mejia and Malinowski, other Democratic candidates included Tahesha Way, Brendan Gill, John Bartlett, Justin Strickland, Jeff Grayzel, Zachary Beecher, Cammie Croft, Anna Lee Williams, and J-L Cauvin.

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

The winners of the primary will match up against any independent or third-party candidates in a general election for all the marbles on Thursday, April 16. There will be nine days of in-person early voting (April 6 to April 14). The voter registration deadline is March 26.

Malinowski – a former congressman in the 7th district – said he looks forward to supporting Mejia in the general election.

“Analilia deserves unequivocal praise and credit for running a positive campaign and for inspiring so many voters on Election Day,” he said.

Malinowski hammered on a theme that some political pundits say propelled Sherrill to a gubernatorial victory last November: local voters’ feelings about President Donald Trump.

“It is essential that we send a Democrat to Washington to fill this seat, not a rubber stamp for Trump,” he said.

Malinowski said he is “proud of the joyful and substantive campaign my team and I ran, and am immensely grateful to the volunteers and staff who made it possible.”

“Their mission, and mine, will continue,” he said.

‘DARK MONEY’

Malinowski claimed that a “massive flood of dark money” was spent on “dishonest” attack ads against him during the final leg of his campaign.

“The outcome of this race cannot be understood without also taking into account the massive flood of dark money that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent on dishonest ads during the last three weeks,” Malinowski said.

“I wish I could say today that this effort, which was meant to intimidate Democrats across the country, failed in NJ-11,” he said. “But it did not. I met several voters in the final days of the campaign who had seen the ads and asked me, sincerely: ‘Are you MAGA? Are you for ICE?’”

United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with AIPAC, reportedly spent more than $2 million running negative ads against Malinowski. The ads criticized the former congressman for voting in favor of a 2019 bill that included increased funding for ICE.

Malinowski is a moderate who has expressed openness for putting conditions on U.S. aid to Israel.

According to its website, the United Democracy Project is an organization comprised of American citizens – Democrats, Republicans and independents – who are “united in the belief that America’s partnership with our democratic ally Israel benefits both countries.”

The group works to help elect candidates that “share our vision and will be strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship in Congress.”

On Friday, the United Democracy Project put out a statement that the outcome of the NJ-11 race was an “anticipated possibility,” and its focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress.

Malinowski said he will be keeping an eye out for more negative campaigning as the general election gets closer.

“My convictions — including my support for Israel as a democratic and Jewish state — don’t change because of who supports or opposes me,” Malinowski said. “But our Democratic Party should have nothing to do with a pro-Trump-billionaire-funded organization that demands absolute fealty to positions that are outside the mainstream of the American pro-Israel community, and then smears those who don’t fall into line.”

“If AIPAC backs a candidate — openly or surreptitiously — in the June NJ-11 Congressional primary, I will oppose that candidate and urge my supporters to do so as well,” Malinowski said.

“The threat unlimited dark money poses to our democracy is far more significant than the views of a single member of Congress on Middle East policy,” he added.

ELECTION BACKGROUND

Sherrill resigned from her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives last year after she was elected as New Jersey’s 57th governor. Her term ends in January 2027.

A super-competitive contest to decide her replacement has fueled an explosion of campaign spending. Candidates have reportedly spent $3.2 million through mid-January, and independent groups have spent at least $3.9 million.

There were 226,173 registered Democrats and 164,807 registered Republicans in the 11th district as of Feb. 1. There were 206,102 unaffiliated voters, state data shows.

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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