New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District will hold a special congressional election Thursday to select a new member of the House after the seat most recently held by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill opened up. The Associated Press decision notes for the race lay out who is on the ballot, when polls close, and how the AP plans to call the winner as results are reported.
Mejia, the Democratic nominee, faces Joe Hathaway, the Republican nominee, in the special election. The AP described the district as Democratic-leaning, and said Democrats view a victory in the seat as a way to further narrow the slim majority Republicans hold in the chamber.
The AP said it will declare a winner only when it determines there is is no scenario that would allow trailing candidates to close the gap. If the AP has not called the race, it will keep covering developments such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while making clear that it has not declared a winner and explaining why.
Polls close at 8 p.m. ET. The AP also said voters registered in the 11th District may participate, and that the election includes a write-in option in addition to the named candidates.
For the Democratic nominee’s background, the AP said Analilia Mejia narrowly won the Feb. 5 Democratic special primary, which included a field with former Rep. Tom Malinowski and former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. The AP said Malinowski sought a comeback after losing a neighboring House seat in 2022, while it said Hathaway ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.
The AP decision notes also highlight campaign finance and an issues-driven contrast in the general contest. The AP said a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent more than $2.3 million to defeat Malinowski, who had questioned providing unconditional aid to the Israeli government, during the primary.
On the Gaza war and Israel policy, the AP said Mejia was the only candidate in a primary campaign forum to indicate she believes Israel committed genocide in Gaza. The AP also said she called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal, while Hathaway said the U.S. should stand “in lockstep” with Israel and opposes putting conditions on aid to an ally.
The AP said Mejia raised about $1.1 million for the special primary and special election and had about $374,000 in her campaign account as of March 27. It said Hathaway raised about $525,000 for his campaign and had about $109,000 in the bank.
The decision notes include voting and district context that could affect how quickly returns shift. The AP said more than half of the district’s 588 precincts are in Morris County, with about 39% in Essex County and 9% in Passaic County; it said Harris carried the part of Essex County with 64% in 2024 and that Donald Trump narrowly won the district’s share of Morris County by about 1 percentage point. The AP said Trump carried the district’s small portion of Passaic County with about 57% of its vote.
In turnout reporting, the AP said that as of April 1 there were about 603,000 registered voters in the 11th Congressional District: about 230,000 Democrats, about 165,000 Republicans, and about 204,000 not affiliated with any party, with the remainder registered with minor parties. It said more than 68,000 ballots were cast in the Feb. 5 Democratic special primary and about 16,000 in the Republican contest, and that about 394,000 votes were cast in the 2024 general election, with nearly half cast before Election Day.
For early and absentee results, the AP said all counties in New Jersey release most or all results from early and absentee voting in the first vote update of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released. As of Tuesday, the AP said about 58,000 votes had already been cast in the special election, including about 36,000 from Democrats, about 15,000 from Republicans and nearly 8,000 from unaffiliated voters.
Finally, the AP decision notes describe its historical timing from the Feb. 5 special primary, when it first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, with the last update at 10:30 p.m. ET with about 91% of total votes counted. The AP said New Jersey does not have automatic recounts, but candidates and voters may request and pay for them, with the cost refunded if the outcome changes, and that the AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
It did not reference any FRED figures in the AP decision notes for this election, and the verified figures provided cover different economic indicators rather than the voting metrics described in the reporting.