Progressive activist Analilia Mejia has defeated former Rep. Tom Malinowski and a crowded field of Democratic contenders in the special primary for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s old district in Congress, NBC News projects.
She had 29.3% of the Democratic primary vote to 27.6% for Malinowski by Thursday evening.
Mejia ran with support from prominent progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, raising her profile in a field of 11 Democratic candidates in the Feb. 5 primary.
Malinowski conceded to Mejia in a statement five days later, as the party prepares to take on Republican Joe Hathaway, the mayor of Randolph Township, in an April 16 special general election for the blue district.
Mejia, a former Sanders staffer, rallied in January with the Vermont senator, who called her a “great organizer” and said Washington is in need of officials who are prepared to “stand up and fight” like her.
In one of Mejia's digital ads, she said, "I am not the candidate with the political machine," adding, "I am an organizer. We have an opportunity to send a message: We resist machine politics that tell us to settle."
On the airwaves, the primary was defined in part by millions of dollars of attack ads Malinowski faced from United Democracy Project, the super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the well-known pro-Israel advocacy group. The super PAC’s ads implied that Malinowski supported current federal immigration enforcement operations that he has publicly denounced.
But the reason for the ads was about Israel. The group told The New York Times it was because Malinowski had spoken in support of putting conditions on U.S. aid to the country.
Yet in cutting down Malinowski, the group’s ads helped give an opening to Mejia, who has been critical of Israel, saying it had committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.
In his concession statement, Malinowski congratulated Mejia and gave her "unequivocal praise and credit for running a positive campaign." Malinowski then criticized AIPAC, saying its "dishonest ads" prompted voters to ask him if he was "MAGA" in the closing days of the campaign.
"My convictions — including my support for Israel as a democratic and Jewish state — don't change because of who supports or opposes me," Malinowski continued. "But our Democratic Party should have nothing to do with a pro-Trump 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 in line."
Malinowski added that he will work to oppose any candidate backed by AIPAC in the regularly scheduled June primary for a full term in this district.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mejia credited her win to a powerful ground operation but also decried AIPAC's influence on the primary.
"I think it is horrendous what AIPAC attempted to do in this race. I think that it is part of their brand to take — to misconstrue facts, to confuse voters and to try to create division," Mejia said, later adding that "while they did play a role in this race," she was "sure what they didn’t do was win this for us."
Mejia was also endorsed by the Working Families Party, which spent $194,000 supporting her campaign. The former Sanders staffer also won support from two local chapters of the Service Employees International Union and the local chapter of Communications Workers of America.
In the election’s final days, Mejia posted a flurry of videos of support from national progressives including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Rep. Ro Khanna of California took a train from Washington, D.C., to attend an event for Mejia.
Sherrill, a Democratic moderate, represented the 11th District from 2019 until she resigned in November after winning the governorship. She was highly popular, carrying the district by 15 points during her House re-election campaign in 2024.
Affordability was the top issue in the special primary, with the candidates also using that issue to express their opposition to President Donald Trump, who has been a major factor in many other special elections since he took office for a second term.
Opposition to the president became a local issue in the district’s bedroom communities after the Trump administration canceled funding for the Gateway tunnel project, which would provide new commuter connections between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City.
It was the first highly competitive Democratic primary in the recent history of the 11th District, which was held by Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen for more than two decades before Sherrill won the district in 2018.
The special general election to fill the seat for the remainder of Sherrill’s term is April 16. The seat will then be up for grabs later this year as part of the regular midterm elections.
