{"id":587743,"date":"2026-04-16T12:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587743\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T12:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:59:18","slug":"a-new-jersey-special-election-could-soon-narrow-the-house-gops-razor-thin-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587743\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Jersey special election could soon narrow the House GOP\u2019s razor-thin majority"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Two months after progressive Analilia Mejia won a special election<\/a> in the Democratic primary for New Jersey\u2019s 11th District, voters will decide Thursday whether they want to send her to Congress.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mejia will face Republican Joe Hathaway, a member of the Randolph Township council.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a district where there are about 65,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, according to the state\u2019s Department of Elections<\/a>, Mejia is favored to win the special election for the seat Mikie Sherrill vacated after being elected governor<\/a> in November. Mejia has united most of the Democratic Party behind her, including former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who ran in the special primary and lost after facing a barrage of spending<\/a> from a group linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.\n <\/p>\n

\n A Mejia victory on Thursday would be a boon for progressives, notably Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who endorsed her after she was national political director for his 2020 presidential campaign. Hathaway, meanwhile, is hoping to win over Democrats who feel Mejia would be too far left for the district.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think on Thursday voters know they have a decision \u2013 an easy decision \u2013 to make,\u201d Mejia told CNN. \u201cTheir pocketbook, the prices at the gas pump, the prices at the grocery store, are informing people about just how dangerous it is to send someone else to do Donald Trump\u2019s bidding in Congress.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Hathaway has run as a moderate, a self-described \u201ccommonsense, independent\u201d former mayor willing to buck the Republican Party.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor a lot of those Democrats out there, I say it kind of tongue in cheek, but I mean it too: They have an opportunity here,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they\u2019re really concerned about Analilia, there\u2019s an opportunity to test drive a Republican for six months.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The winner of Thursday\u2019s election will have an immediate impact on the razor-thin US House majority. House Speaker Mike Johnson is now able to lose two GOP defections on party-line votes and still pass legislation. A Mejia victory would shrink that margin yet again.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hathaway and Mejia are both also running in their party\u2019s June primaries for a full two-year term that would start in January.\n <\/p>\n

\n A Mejia win would be a reminder of how AIPAC\u2019s efforts to punish a former ally backfired.\n <\/p>\n

\n Prior to February\u2019s primary, Malinowski had raised the most money and was well known thanks to his two terms in Congress representing a nearby district. He campaigned as the candidate most ready to jump into the role.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then the United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with AIPAC, spent $2 million on ads attacking Malinowski and portraying him as supportive of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pointing to his 2019 vote for a bipartisan spending bill that funded the agency.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf AIPAC had never gotten involved, Tom Malinowski would be going to Congress right now,\u201d said Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist who ran a super PAC supporting the former congressman.\n <\/p>\n

\n The campaign came as a surprise given that Malinowski \u2013 a self-described Zionist \u2013 had a strong pro-Israel voting record. AIPAC, however, took issue with the former congressman\u2019s willingness to place conditions on aid to Israel. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t promise a blank check in advance for anything a prime minister would ask for,\u201d Malinowski told The New York Times<\/a> in January.\n <\/p>\n

\n After his loss, Malinowski blasted AIPAC in an op-ed<\/a> published by The Bulwark, arguing that the group\u2019s attacks on him were meant to intimidate other Democrats. He warned that if AIPAC\u2019s vision of being pro-Israel \u201crequires smearing even the most moderate elected officials who ask questions\u201d then \u201cthe number of Americans (and the number of members of Congress) who pass its test will be too small to sustain any kind of relationship with the Jewish state.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The attacks on Malinowski likely aided Mejia, who was the only candidate during a forum to raise her hand when asked if they agreed with human rights groups that have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza<\/a> in response to Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023, attack. (Israel has denied genocide allegations.)\n <\/p>\n

\n After the February race, a spokesperson for the United Democracy Project said the group would be monitoring the June primary for a full term, but a strong challenger to Mejia has not emerged. Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who finished third after being endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, another pro-Israel group, said in March she would not run again. And Malinowski endorsed and campaigned with Mejia ahead of Thursday\u2019s election.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mejia says she advanced by running a grassroots campaign and focusing on voters\u2019 economic concerns.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI was able to connect with voters through that primary,\u201d she said. \u201cThe closer we got to the election, I was trending. Why? Because, as an organizer, I know you meet people where they\u2019re at.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Though she\u2019s never held political office, she spent several years working behind the scenes. She worked to help Democrats \u2013 including Malinowski and Sherrill \u2013 win Republican-held House seats in 2018 and pushed for a $15 minimum wage in the state as leader of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mejia has sought to broaden her appeal in the final weeks of the campaign.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe\u2019s done a very good job consolidating support since she won,\u201d Roginsky said. \u201cAnd if she continues to do that, when she\u2019s in Congress, continues to listen to people in her district, which I\u2019m sure she is, she\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Asked if she sees herself as part of \u201cThe Squad,\u201d the progressive group in the House that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, Mejia said the squad she\u2019s most focused on is the voters in her district.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you were going to define me as anything, it\u2019s a scrappy New Jersey soccer mom that is willing to stand up for you,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two months after progressive Analilia Mejia won a special election in the Democratic primary for New Jersey\u2019s 11th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-587743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}