Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of Center for Popular Democracy, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 19, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images
Early voting is underway in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, where Democratic candidate Analilia Mejia and Republican Joe Hathaway are competing in an April 16 special election for the House seat left open when Gov. Mikie Sherrill resigned after winning the gubernatorial election.
The winner will serve the remainder of Sherrill’s term through January 2027. The seat is also on the ballot in the regular June primary and November general election for a full two-year term. An independent candidate, Alan Bond, is also running.
The district spans parts of Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey. Republicans held the seat for more than two decades before Sherrill flipped it in 2018. She won reelection in 2024 by 15 points before resigning on Nov. 20, 2025, after winning the governor’s race.
Mejia’s candidacy is being watched as a test of whether a progressive can hold a moderate suburban district that Sherrill won as a centrist.
The two candidates held one debate on April 1, hosted by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University. Affordability dominated the exchange, with both candidates returning to the issue repeatedly.
They clashed over health care—Mejia called it a “human right” and backed a single-payer system, while Hathaway said government-controlled health care would raise spending by trillions and reduce patient access.
On Israel, Mejia called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and said criticism of his government is not anti-Israel. Hathaway said he opposes any conditions on U.S. aid to Israel and accused Mejia of “anti-Semitic” rhetoric.
Both candidates said they support restoring federal funding for the Gateway Program, which manages the Hudson Tunnel Project, with Hathaway breaking from President Donald Trump on the issue. In February, construction on the new $16 billion set of rail tunnels under the Hudson River into New York City resumed after the Trump administration released millions of dollars in federal funding that had been frozen for months.
Mejia, a progressive activist and the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, served as national political director for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign.
She won the Feb. 5 Democratic primary with about 29 percent of the vote in an 11-candidate field, defeating former Rep. Tom Malinowski by roughly 1,100 votes. Hathaway was unopposed in the Republican primary.
Her campaign positions include canceling student loan debt, guaranteeing national paid sick days, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has been endorsed by Sanders and other progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Hathaway is the mayor of Randolph Township. In the debate and campaign, he has attacked Mejia as a “socialist.” His platform includes a tax freeze for first-time homebuyers, capping federal student loan interest rates, expanding the child tax credit, and investing in vocational training.
Democrats hold 214 House seats to Republicans’ 218 and need a net gain of three to win the majority. Democrat Emily Gregory flipped a Florida state legislative seat in a March special election in a Palm Beach County district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. It was one of several races Democrats have won or overperformed in since Trump returned to office, results that have been touted by the party as a positive sign heading into midterm elections this fall.
The NJ-11 race is one of four consequential April elections alongside runoffs for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat and the Georgia 14th Congressional District, both on April 7, and a Virginia redistricting referendum on April 21.
Bill Pan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.