Analilia Mejia continues to hold a narrow lead in the special Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, and said at a press conference earlier today that she anticipates a victory but isn’t declaring one yet. As of this morning, the race stands in approximately the same place as it did last night: with Mejia up by a margin of 488 votes, 17,670 (28.7%) to 17,182 (27.9%).
“Every vote has to be counted,” Mejia said. “I do think that we have emerged victorious, but I want to first make sure that every voter’s voice is heard.”
The candidate she’s currently defeating, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, said in a statement that he is not conceding yet, citing the many outstanding mail-in and provisional ballots that have yet to be counted.
“We did not declare victory last night – even after several independent outlets projected the race – because we knew a significant number of these ballots remained,” the Malinowski campaign said. “Given the volume of votes still to be reported and the way mail-in ballots have broken throughout this race, we remain confident heading into the continued count.”
Malinowski built up a large early advantage among vote-by-mail and early in-person voters, leading several news outlets (among them the New Jersey Globe) to prematurely call the race for him, but Mejia dominated among Election Day voters and pulled into a narrow lead.
In Essex County, still uncounted are four Election Day voting districts, at least 1,131 later-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, and around 1,100 provisional ballots, though not all of those provisional ballots will be counted; 300 vote-by-mail ballots also came in unsealed, an issue that will have to be addressed.
In Morris County, there are 694 provisional ballots, two missing voting districts in Morristown, and an unclear number of vote-by-mail ballots left outstanding; Passaic County, the smallest portion of the district, will have at least a handful of additional ballots to be counted as well. Some of those ballots will be added to the tally today, but it’s likely that the race will remain unresolved through the weekend.
Regardless of how many votes are ultimately added, voter turnout has already vastly exceeded expectations, especially given the primary’s timing on a wintry Thursday; more than 61,000 votes have been counted thus far, far more than the 51,848 cast in the regularly scheduled 2024 primary.
The eventual primary winner will face voters again on April 16 for the general election against GOP nominee Joe Hathaway, a race Democrats are favored to win, and then again on June 2 for the regularly scheduled Democratic primary.
It’s possible that some of the unsuccessful candidates who ran last night will try again in June. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee – which spent heavily to defeat Malinowski and seemingly favored third-place finisher Tahesha Way, the former lieutenant governor – indicated that it may get involved in the June race; AIPAC opposed Malinowski because he was insufficiently pro-Israel for their liking, but Mejia is even more of an outspoken critic of Israel.
“The outcome in NJ-11 was an anticipated possibility, and our focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress,” United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, said in a statement. “UDP will be closely monitoring dozens of primary races, including the June NJ-11 primary, to help ensure pro-Israel candidates are elected to Congress.”
Mejia and Malinowski both indicated before the primary that they would not continue their campaigns through June if they lost, and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), the race’s fourth place finisher, called Mejia this morning to offer his support.
“The stakes are too high” to continue a campaign against a fellow Democrat, Gill told the New Jersey Globe. “We had a competitive primary. We need to get a Democrat elected in that seat so they can get to work on behalf of this district.”
Three other erstwhile candidates – Zach Beecher, Cammie Croft, and J-L Cauvin – all said they too do not intend to continue their campaigns, and a fourth, Anna Lee Williams, said she “probably” would not keep running. Way, however, has made no such commitment, saying in December that she would have to “give that some thought.”
A Mejia victory would be a political earthquake in a historically moderate district where, just a few months ago, she was virtually unknown to voters. A former state director of the Working Families Party and the national political director on Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, Mejia credited her unapologetically progressive message, especially on abolishing ICE and fighting President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda, as the key to her success.
Mejia also cited the abolition of the county line, the ballot design system that propped up party-backed candidates in primaries before it was struck down by a judge in 2024. Last night’s primary wouldn’t have featured the line anyways – the line only came into existence when multiple races were on the ballot – but the mentality shift that accompanied its demise was undoubtedly instrumental in boosting Mejia, who had little establishment support in the district.
“For six years, when I ran the Working Families Party, I worked with partners across the state to eliminate [the line],” Mejia said. “This is the first race in which we actually had that kind of open primary – the possibility for new ideas, for better candidates to run.”
As for AIPAC’s onslaught against Malinowski, Mejia condemned the pro-Israel group’s involvement, though it’s possible that by sinking Malinowski, AIPAC’s ads lifted Mejia to victory.
“When I first jumped in, I said we should not take these big dark money groups’ money or resourcing or support, because it ends up corrupting the process,” Mejia said. “I was disgusted that they were going after Tom Malinowski, but I didn’t need to see the assault to know the practices that they employ and to be against it.”
“In many ways, I’m glad that New Jersey 11 voters got to see the terrible tactics, so that we can reject it in the future,” she added.
This story was updated at 3:20 p.m. to add Beecher to the list of candidates who have said they will not be running again in June.