Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejia wins New Jersey special election for US House | House of Representatives
Democrat Analilia Mejia won a New Jersey special election for the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway with a message of opposition to Donald Trump.
Mejia, the former head of the Working Families Alliance who has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, will fill the seat previously held by Democratic governor Mikie Sherrill and serve through January.
His victory means a victory for progressives and Democrats retaining the 11th district seat in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. This also adds to a string of Democratic victories heading into this year’s midterm elections.
The Associated Press called the race for Mejia minutes after the polls closed.
Mejia emerged from a crowded primary in February and framed the race as a test of Trump’s leadership. He criticized his pardons of people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes and accused him of freezing funds authorized by Congress.
“People here are ready to do something about it,” he said recently. “We’re not here to write strongly worded letters. Congress has real power.”
He campaigned on populist economic policies and pushed for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He criticized the Israeli government and said he stood with Palestinian communities “in their quest for peace and dignity.”
While national Republicans labeled him a socialist, Hathaway attempted to use Mejia’s progressive credentials to her advantage.
“I am running to bring common-sense leadership to DC + deliver results for our families, not to push a far-left agenda,” Hathaway said in a recent social media post.
They may face each other again for a full two-year term in the November elections.
The 11th district, which covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in the wealthy suburbs of northern New Jersey, was long a Republican stronghold but has become increasingly Democratic since Trump’s first term.
Sherrill first won the seat in the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats flipped dozens of seats to take control of Congress. He won re-election by about 15 points in 2024, while Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris carried the district by about nine points.
Saran Cunningham, an 86-year-old retired special educator, said she was initially reluctant to support Mejia, worried his views were too left-leaning. He supported another candidate in the primary. But he recently said outside the Morristown early voting center that he would now vote for Mejia.
“I think we’ve been leaning a little bit more to the right lately, which concerns me,” Cunningham said. “I think we need people in Congress who will fight for things that will help people rather than hurt them.”
Over the years, Mejia has been a regular presence at the state capitol, championing progressive causes and becoming Sanders’ political director during the 2020 presidential race. She was deputy director of the labor department’s women’s bureau during the Biden administration. In addition to gaining Sanders’ support, he was also supported by US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and senator Elizabeth Warren.
