A former top campaign aide to democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders held a slim lead Friday in the special Democratic primary to replace New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill in the House of Representatives.
With less than 6,000 votes still to be counted, Analilia Mejia (28.9%) led former Rep. Tom Malinowski (27.8%) by just 676 votes out of more than 62,000 cast among the 11-person field.
Former Garden State Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way was a distant third with 17.4% of the vote, while Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill was fourth with 14.3%. No other candidate received more than 3% support.
Malinowski, who spent four years in the House representing New Jersey’s 7th District before his 2022 defeat by Republican Thomas Kean Jr., started election night with a significant lead over Mejia, based largely on early mail-in voting results. Mejia overtook Malinowski thanks to a strong showing in the primary day vote.
Mail-in ballots postmarked by election day can arrive as late as Wednesday and still be counted and all three of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties reported some mail-in ballots were yet to be processed, leaving the final outcome in doubt.
Either Mejia or Malinowski will be an overwhelming favorite to defeat Republican candidate Joe Hathaway in the April 16 special election and serve out the remainder of Sherrill’s term.
Voters will then be asked to return to the polls Nov. 3 to choose their representative for the next two years.
Once one of the most staunchly Republican districts in the Northeast, the 11th flipped to Democratic control in 2018 with Sherrill’s defeat of Republican Jay Webber.
Following the 2020 census, the district’s boundaries were changed to incorporate parts of Essex County, including tony Millburn and blue-collar Belleville, becoming more Democrat-leaning as a result.
The district backed Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election by eight percentage points, while Sherrill carried it by 15 over Republican Jack Ciattarelli in last year’s gubernatorial vote.
The new governor declined to make an endorsement in the primary, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) also opting to sit out the race. Malinowski won the backing of the state’s other US senator, Andy Kim, who has built support among progressive groups.
Mejia, a former head of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance and political director for Sanders (I-Vt.) during his 2020 presidential run, was supported by prominent progressives at all levels of government, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as well as Sanders, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
In her platform, Mejia has endorsed Medicare For All, the mass cancelation of student loan debt, enshrining paid sick leave in federal law, and the impeachment of Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
With Post wires
