Progressive Analilia Mejía takes New Jersey US House special election,
giving Democrats another win
[April 17, 2026]
By MIKE CATALINI
DENVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Democrat Analilia Mejía won a New Jersey special
election for the U.S. House on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe
Hathaway on a message of standing up to President Donald Trump and
defending progressive policies.
Mejía, 48, a former head of the Working Families Alliance who had
support from Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, will fill the seat
previously held by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill and serve until
January.
Her victory is a win for progressives and means Democrats hold on to the
11th District seat in the House, where Republicans hold a thin majority.
It also adds to a string of victories for Democrats heading into this
year’s midterm elections.
The Associated Press called the race for Mejía minutes after the polls
closed.
Mejía later spoke in Montclair to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters
who called out in unison with her that she was an “unbought, unbossed,
sassy new member of Congress.”
Republicans criticized her throughout the campaign as too far to the
left. She pushed back against those arguments, calling for better health
care and education and attacking billionaires for having a
“stranglehold” on the economy.
“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 Thursday night. “That is not radical, that is good
conscience. That is a good economy.”
Her speech echoed Sanders, who congratulated her in a social media post
and said she would be a “great progressive addition” to Congress.
Mejía emerged from a crowded primary in February and cast the race as a
test of Trump’s leadership. She criticized his pardons of people
convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes and faulted him for freezing funds
authorized by Congress.
She campaigned on populist economic policies and pushing to abolish U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has criticized the Israeli
government and said she stands with Palestinian communities in their
“pursuit of peace and dignity.”
Hathaway, 38, tried to use Mejía's progressive credentials to his
advantage, as national Republicans cast her as a socialist. After her
victory he congratulated Mejía and wished her well. He added that he
still believes the district is looking for “balanced, pragmatic”
leadership, not “far-left policies.”
The two could go head to head again in November’s election for a full
two-year term.
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 become increasingly Democratic since Trump’s first
term.
Sherrill first won the seat in 2018’s 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, the
Democratic presidential nominee, carried the district by nearly 9
points.
[to top of second column]
|
Analilia Mejia smiles as she gestures to supporters after winning
New Jersey's 11th Congressional District special election, Thursday,
April 16, 2026, in Montclair, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Mejía's margin of victory was greater. With more than 90% of votes
counted late Thursday, she led Hathaway by about 20 percentage
points. Additional mail-in ballots — which have favored Mejía by an
even larger margin — will be counted in the coming days as they can
arrive as late as Wednesday.
Saran Cunningham, an 86-year-old retired special educator, said she
was initially reluctant to support Mejía, worried that her views
were too far to the left. She backed another candidate in the
primary. But recently, outside the Morristown early polling
location, she said she would now vote for Mejía.
“I think we’ve been tilting a little bit more to the right lately,
which worries me,” Cunningham said. “I think that we need people in
Congress who will fight for things that will help people as opposed
to hurting them.”
Rob Berkowitz, 62, cast his early vote for Hathaway at the Denville
polling station. Describing himself as a conservative, Berkowitz
gave Trump high marks on immigration, the economy and the war in
Iran, comparing him to Winston Churchill. He criticized the
Democratic Party for moving away from leaders in the style of Harry
Truman, whom he praised.
“They want borders wide open. They don’t want to enforce existing
immigration laws,” Berkowitz said.
The February Democratic primary pitted Mejía against former Rep. Tom
Malinowski and others in a race where the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee was a key player. The group’s affiliated super PAC
tried to thwart Malinowski after he questioned unconditional aid to
the Israeli government. That effort appeared to backfire as Mejía,
who said she agreed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, came
out on top.
Over the years she has been a regular presence in the state Capitol,
advocating for progressive causes, and was Sanders’ political
director during his 2020 presidential run. During the Biden
administration, she was deputy director of the Labor Department’s
Women’s Bureau.
In addition to winning Sanders’ endorsement, she was backed by U.S.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren
of Massachusetts.
Hathaway, a former Yale University football player, has worked in
health care and finance as well as in politics as an aide for former
GOP Gov. Chris Christie.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
