The result adds to a string of Democratic victories heading into this year’s midterm elections and keeps the 11th District — a former Republican stronghold that has shifted toward Democrats since President Trump’s first term — in Democratic hands.
Democrat Analilia Mejía won the special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway by roughly 20 percentage points and keeping a seat Democrats need as Republicans maintain a thin House majority. The Associated Press called the race for Mejía, 48, minutes after polls closed on April 16.
With more than 90% of votes counted late Thursday, Mejía led Hathaway by about 20 percentage points. Mail-in ballots, which have favored Mejía by an even larger margin, were expected to be counted through Wednesday; they can arrive as late as that date under New Jersey law.
Mejía, a former head of the Working Families Alliance, will fill the seat previously held by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill — who won the governorship and vacated the House seat — and will serve until January. Her victory adds to a string of Democratic wins heading into this year’s midterm elections.
Speaking in Montclair to supporters on Thursday night, Mejía pushed back against Republican characterizations of her as too far to the left.
“It is not radical to say that a worker who toils every day cannot make ends meet, that they deserve justice, that they deserve higher wages,” Mejía said. “That is not radical, that is good conscience. That is a good economy.”
She campaigned on populist economic themes and called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has criticized the Israeli government and said she stands with Palestinian communities. During the February Democratic primary, she said she agreed that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Hathaway, 38, a former Yale University football player who worked in health care and finance and previously served as an aide for former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, congratulated Mejía after the result. He said he still believes the district is looking for “balanced, pragmatic” leadership rather than “far-left policies.”
The two candidates could face each other again in November’s election for a full two-year term.
District background
The 11th District, which covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey’s wealthy suburbs, was long a Republican stronghold but has shifted toward Democrats since Trump’s first term. Sherrill first won the seat in the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats flipped dozens of seats to take control of Congress. In 2024 she won reelection by about 15 points, while Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by nearly 9 points. Mejía’s margin exceeded Sherrill’s 2024 reelection margin.
Primary and endorsements
Mejía emerged from a crowded February primary that drew involvement from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s affiliated super PAC, which sought to limit the vote share of former Rep. Tom Malinowski after he questioned unconditional U.S. aid to Israel. That effort appeared to backfire as Mejía won the primary.
She was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose 2020 presidential campaign she directed as political director; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. During the Biden administration, Mejía served as deputy director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau.