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NJ's wild primary may take days to decide as Analilia Mejia leads Malinowski by 1 point
By
Mike Hayes
Published Feb 6, 2026
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Analilia Mejia for New Jersey/Tom Malinowski for Congress
By
Mike Hayes
Published Feb 6, 2026
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Far-left congressional candidate Analilia Mejia set off a political earthquake in North Jersey last night that is reverberating around the country today.
The progressive labor activist holds a narrow lead over former Rep. Tom Malinowski in the Democratic primary in the special election to fill the House seat left vacant by New Jersey’s new Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
As of Friday afternoon, Mejia was leading Malinowski by just a few hundred votes, according to the Associated Press. Her campaign, along with political experts, anticipate that it could take until next week to tabulate the outstanding votes. Mail-in ballots can still come in up to five days after election day as long as they were postmarked by Thursday.
County clerks’ offices in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties did not immediately respond to questions about when they will finalize their tabulations.
Thursday night’s vote count proved to be a wild ride for election observers., Malinowski had quickly vaulted to what looked like a healthy 9-point lead over Mejia in early tallies of vote-by-mail and early in-person votes. Several news outlets, including The New Jersey Globe, The Hill and Bloomberg, reported that he had won the nomination with only a small percentage of the votes counted.
But Mejia quickly overtook the former congressman as day-of primary votes were counted. She performed exceptionally well in her home Essex County, while also beating Malinowski in Morris and Passaic election day votes.
Mejia is the daughter of immigrants from Colombia and the Dominican Republic. She grew up in Elizabeth and now lives with her family in Glen Ridge. A long-time community organizer and activist, she headed the New Jersey Working Families Alliance and worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign.
With the result still undecided, Mejia spoke to media from her headquarters Friday morning.
“We left everything on the ground. We knocked on as many doors, made tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of phone calls. We connected with people on a daily basis in genuine ways,” she said. “I didn't just run town halls or run commercials. I ran trainings. I engaged people on what's happening across our country and what they could do to make the change. I know that we resonated with people.”
A Mejia win would be a stunning upset that very few, if any, political analysts predicted. She was one of the last candidates to enter the crowded Democratic primary field. A whopping 11 candidates actively sought the nomination on election day.
Malinowski raised more than $1 million in campaign contributions. Mejia only brought in a few hundred thousand dollars during her 9-week run.
However, her campaign was boosted by big-name endorsements from progressive heavy hitters, like Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
In a written statement Friday, Malinowski reinforced that the race “remains too close to call” with thousands of ballots yet to be counted.
“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," he said. "Every vote deserves to be counted, and we look forward to a complete and accurate tally that reflects the full voice of NJ-11 voters.”
Whoever comes out on top will face Republican Joe Hathaway, a relative unknown who ran unopposed in the GOP primary on Thursday. The special general election for the seat is scheduled for April 16.
The seat is largely seen as safe one for Democrats. In 2018, Sherill flipped the district by more than 30 points, defeating Republican Jay Webber after three-decade incumbent Rodney Frelinghuysen sat out the race. New Jersey’s 11th District was redrawn after the 2020 Census to make it even more friendly to Democrats.
The winner of the general election will serve out Sherrill’s term through the rest of 2026. They’ll be up for re-election in November — but could face a primary challenger as soon as June.
Tagged
Politics
election
new jersey
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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