{"id":580663,"date":"2026-02-10T20:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/580663\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:52:14","slug":"malinowski-concedes-to-mejia-in-house-special-primary-in-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/580663\/","title":{"rendered":"Malinowski concedes to Mejia in House special primary in New Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Former congressman Tom Malinowski conceded on Tuesday to Analilia Mejia, a longtime progressive activist and former political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the crowded Democratic primary in New Jersey\u2019s U.S. House special election<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The race attracted national attention as Democrats sparred over the best way to win over voters in this year\u2019s midterm elections. Mejia showcased an aggressive progressive platform in a suburban district that normally favors more moderate candidates. <\/p>\n

During a news conference Tuesday, Mejia credited her experience as an organizer as key to getting support across the northern New Jersey district and said she heard repeatedly from people about what they wanted in a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this moment, what we want are real representatives: real representatives who will listen to the people, who will ask questions about what is keeping you up at night, who will prioritize your interest over special interests,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The special election is being held to fill the seat vacated when Mikie Sherrill stepped down<\/a> to become governor. The Associated Press has not yet called Thursday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill waves during her inauguration ceremony in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig, File)<\/p>\n

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill waves during her inauguration ceremony in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig, File)<\/p>\n

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Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

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There was friction over the role of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose affiliated super PAC tried to thwart Malinowski after he questioned unconditional aid to the Israeli government. However, their efforts appeared to backfire. Mejia, who said in a forum she agreed Israel committed genocide in Gaza, overtook Malinowski with a narrow lead on election night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Analilia<\/p>\n

Analilia Mejia, center, speaks during a rally calling for SCOTUS ethics reform, May 2, 2023, in Washington. (Joy Asico\/AP Images for Center for Popular Democracy Action, File)<\/p>\n

Analilia Mejia, center, speaks during a rally calling for SCOTUS ethics reform, May 2, 2023, in Washington. (Joy Asico\/AP Images for Center for Popular Democracy Action, File)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe outcome of this race cannot be understood without taking into account the massive flood of dark money that AIPAC spent on dishonest ads during the last three weeks,\u201d Malinowski said in a statement. <\/p>\n

He threw his support behind Mejia, who has been consolidating backing from her Democratic rivals. Democratic U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who had backed Malinowski, also endorsed Mejia, as did Sherrill on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Mejia said Tuesday she heard repeatedly about the role AIPAC played in the race and repudiated the role of PAC and corporate money in politics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they didn\u2019t do was win this for us. How we won it was people power,\u201d Mejia said. <\/p>\n

Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic organization Third Way, said AIPAC had made \u201ca catastrophic error\u201d and \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of anger about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed concern that Mejia\u2019s victory would nudge the party too far to the left ahead of the midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea that there\u2019s a demand either among the Democratic electorate, primary or the general electorate for radical candidates, is baloney,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey, including some of New York City\u2019s wealthier suburbs. All three counties in the district report some mail-in ballots yet to be processed. Additionally, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive as late as Wednesday and still be counted.<\/p>\n

Mejia already had the endorsement of noted progressives, including Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and campaigned around the district saying she was running against billionaires and their influence.<\/p>\n

A former director of the Working Families Alliance in New Jersey, Mejia, 48, is a well-known figure in state politics, advocating for progressive causes. She was Sanders\u2019 political director during his 2020 presidential run and served as deputy director of the Labor Department\u2019s Women\u2019s Bureau under President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Mejia would face Republican Joe Hathaway, who was unopposed in his primary, in the special general election on April 16. The outcome will determine who serves the remainder of Sherrill\u2019s term until next January. There will also be a regular primary on June 2 and a general election on Nov 3. <\/p>\n

Republicans are already taking aim at Mejia, saying she wants to \u201cturn New Jersey into a socialist hellscape,\u201d according to National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Maureen O\u2019Toole. <\/p>\n

Malinowski\u2019s concession caps an effort to recapture a seat in Congress after he was defeated by a Republican in a different district in 2022.<\/p>\n

Other leading Democrats who sought the nomination were Brendan Gill, an elected commissioner in Essex County, and Tahesha Way, who was lieutenant governor and secretary of state for two terms until last month.<\/p>\n

Also on the ballot were John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, J-L Cauvin, Marc Chaaban, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Jeff Grayzel, Justin Strickland and Anna Lee Williams.<\/p>\n

Sherrill represented the district for four terms after her 2018 election. She won despite the region\u2019s historical loyalty to the Republican Party, a dynamic that began to shift during President Donald Trump\u2019s first term. <\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Steve Peoples contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TRENTON, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Former congressman Tom Malinowski conceded on Tuesday to Analilia Mejia, a longtime progressive activist…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":580664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[7373,11338,251926,251915,43236,251921,1578,10635,251919,251925,69,90,57,118637,251920,82,251916,251917,251918,251924,15171,251923,133987,401,50,80,235115,251914,89,29156,61,322,67,326,132,68,93,251922],"class_list":["post-580663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-2026-elections","tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","tag-american-israel-public-affairs-committee","tag-analilia-mejia","tag-andy-kim","tag-anna-lee-williams","tag-associated-press","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-brendan-gill","tag-dean-dafis","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-house-elections","tag-jeff-grayzel","tag-joe-biden","tag-joe-hathaway","tag-john-bartlett","tag-justin-strickland","tag-marc-chaaban","tag-matt-bennett","tag-maureen-otoole","tag-mikie-sherrill","tag-new-jersey","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-tom-malinowski","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-u-s-department-of-labor","tag-u-s-news","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-washington-news","tag-zach-beecher"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}