The Democratic primary in New Jersey to choose the nominee for a special House election remained unresolved Thursday as election officials continued counting votes after election day, leaving the Malinowski-Mejia contest within striking distance. The race is for the seat vacated after Mikie Sherrill was elected governor, and it will determine who serves the remainder of her term through next January.
Malinowski began election night with an early lead that came largely from results from mail-in ballots that had already been tallied, but that margin narrowed as results from votes cast on election day were added. As of the latest count reported Thursday, with more than 61,000 votes included, Mejia held a lead of 486 votes over Malinowski—less than 1 percentage point—making the outcome uncertain rather than settled.
The uncertainty was tied to the pace of remaining mail voting. The race’s district counties—Essex, Morris and Passaic—each reported mail-in ballots still waiting to be processed, and ballots postmarked by election day could arrive as late as Wednesday and still be counted. The reporting also said Malinowski was doing better than Mejia among the mail-in ballots already counted in all three counties, a factor that could matter if remaining mail ballots are counted in greater volume later.
Under the election timetable, the Democratic primary winner will face Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway in the April 16 general election. Hathaway was unopposed in the Republican primary, setting up the matchup once the Democrats determine their nominee.
The campaign has also reflected competing progressive and establishment alliances. Malinowski served two terms in Congress before losing a bid for reelection in a different district in 2022, and he had the endorsement of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim. Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance in the state and political director for Bernie Sanders during his 2020 presidential run, had Sanders’ endorsement as well as that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The reporting also described Mejia as having worked in President Joe Biden’s Labor Department as deputy director of the women’s bureau.
Both candidates were well ahead of other contenders in the crowded Democratic field, which also included Brendan Gill, an elected commissioner in Essex County; and Tahesha Way, who served as lieutenant governor and secretary of state under former Gov. Phil Murphy for two terms until last month. Other listed candidates were John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, J-L Cauvin, Marc Chaaban, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Jeff Grayzel, Justin Strickland and Anna Lee Williams.
The district covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey, including some of New York City’s wealthier suburbs. After Sherrill’s election in 2018, she won despite the region’s historical lean toward the Republican Party, a dynamic that has shifted in recent years, according to the reporting.