Analilia Mejia, a onetime presidential campaign political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Friday was announced the winner of the special Democratic primary for the U.S. House seat vacated by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Mejia defeated 11 other candidates for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District seat. Her closest competitor, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, conceded the election to Meija on Tuesday.
The Associated Press called the race a week after voters went to the polls in the 11th District, which touches three counties and stretches from just west of Newark to more conservative enclaves well into the state’s northern interior.
Meija’s victory caps a highly competitive race that featured a dozen candidates and an unusually large amount of outside money, a fact Malinowski decried even as he threw his support behind Mejia.
According to campaign finance reports, outside groups poured more than $4 million into the contest, with more than $2 million in attack ads aimed at Malinowski from a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“I wish I could say today that this effort … failed in N.J.-11. But it did not,” Malinowski said. “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?’”
Mejia, 48, is a grassroots organizer and strategist. She is the co-founder and a co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a progressive advocacy organization focused on economic and racial justice. She was the national political director for the presidential campaign of Sanders, I-Vt., in 2020 and served in the Department of Labor under President Joe Biden.
The daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants focused on several policy issues throughout her campaign, including building a better economy for all Americans, universal health care and child care, free public college and the cancellation of student loan debt. In addition to Sanders’ endorsement, Mejia was backed by several prominent progressives, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.
Meija will face Randolph Township Mayor Joe Hathaway, who ran unopposed in the GOP special primary, in the special general election on April 16.
The seat represents a district that traditionally leans Democratic and where Sherrill captured about 56% of the vote in her 2024 re-election. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district as the Democratic presidential nominee over Donald Trump with 53% of the vote in 2024.
Malinowski, 60, served as a U.S. representative for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District from 2019 to 2023 after flipping a traditionally Republican district. He lost his re-election bid in 2022 to Republican Thomas Kean Jr.
Among Malinowski’s biggest endorsements this time around was Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J.
The campaign was closely watched by pro-Israel groups and could prove an early bellwether for how Democratic voters judge candidates’ views on Israel and its role in the Gaza war.
While Malinowski has had AIPAC’s support during his past campaigns, the group has been concerned about his openness to putting conditions on aid to Israel. Malinowski’s position on Israel has become more popular among Democrats since the country launched a devastating military operation in Gaza after Hamas launched the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and took hostages.
Many of the ads also blasted Malinkowski for a vote linked to funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, highlighting his 2019 support of a bipartisan border funding bill, which included an increase in funds for ICE.
AIPAC’s heavy campaign tactics drew the ire of more centrist Democrats and members of the pro-Israel group who believe the targeting of a more moderate candidate opened up the space for the progressive Mejia.
Mejia has been a strong critic of the war in Gaza and has accused Israel of committing genocide in its effort to take out Hamas. She also said she would decline an invitation to visit Israel on an AIPAC-sponsored trip.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at CNN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.