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2026 New Jersey's 11th congressional district special election

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
11 min read
Source updated September 6, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The 2026 New Jersey's 11th congressional district special election was held on April 16, 2026, to fill the vacant seat in New Jersey's 11th congressional district. The winner will serve in the United States House of Representatives for the remainder of the 119th United States Congress.

The seat became vacant on November 20, 2025, when Mikie Sherrill resigned to become the governor of New Jersey. Outgoing governor Phil Murphy announced the special election scheduled for April 16, 2026. Early voting took place from April 6 to April 14. Voters had the option to cast their votes by mail.

Primary elections were held on February 5, 2026. Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, won the Democratic nomination. Randolph councilman and former mayor Joe Hathaway won the Republican nomination uncontested. Mejia would then go on to win the special election; her win was the best Democratic performance since 1982, the last time a Democrat won the district before 2018.

01Democratic primary

Campaign

Spending by AIPAC against former U.S. Representative Tom Malinowski became a major issue in the primary. Although Malinowski identified as a pro-Israel Democrat, the group funded negative advertising after he declined to unconditionally support foreign military aid. The ads may have inadvertently boosted eventual nominee Analilia Mejia, who has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Following his defeat, Malinowski sharply criticized AIPAC, calling its campaign "dishonest" and pledging to oppose any AIPAC-backed challenger to Mejia in the June primary for the full term.

Mejia has called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has advocated resistance to what she describes as "rising authoritarianism".

The Associated Press and The New York Times called the race for Mejia on February 12, 2026, defeating Malinowski and former Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way.

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

  • Marc Chaaban, former congressional staffer (remained on ballot, endorsed Mejia)
  • Dean Dafis, Maplewood Township committeeman and former mayor (remained on ballot, endorsed Gill)

Disqualified

Did not file

Declined

Endorsements

John Bartlett
Local officials
Labor unions
Party branches
Zach Beecher
U.S. senators
Individuals
Labor unions
Organizations
Brendan Gill
Executive branch officials
U.S. representatives
Statewide officials
State legislators
Local officials
Party officials
Individuals
Party branches
Labor unions
Tom Malinowski
Executive branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
Local officials
Individuals
Party branches
Labor unions
Organizations
Analilia Mejia
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
Statewide officials
State legislators
Local officials
Individuals
  • Marc Chaaban, former congressional staffer and former candidate for this seat
Political parties
Labor unions
Organizations
Tahesha Way
U.S. representatives
Statewide officials
State legislators
Individuals
Party branches
Organizations
Declined to endorse
Statewide officials

County conventions

County convention results
Essex County Democratic convention
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Brendan Gill 132 51.5%
Democratic No Endorsement (Abstained) 90 35.2%
Democratic Tom Malinowski 17 6.6%
Democratic John Bartlett 6 2.3%
Democratic Dean Dafis 4 1.6%
Democratic Analilia Mejia 3 1.2%
Democratic Tahesha Way 3 1.2%
Democratic Marc Chaaban 1 0.4%
Democratic Zach Beecher 0 0.0%
Democratic J-L Cauvin 0 0.0%
Democratic Cammie Croft 0 0.0%
Democratic Justin Strickland 0 0.0%
Democratic Anna Lee Williams 0 0.0%
Total votes 256 100.0%
Morris County Democratic convention
Candidate First ballot Second ballot Third ballot Fourth ballot Fifth ballot Sixth ballot Seventh ballot Eighth ballot Ninth ballot
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Tom Malinowski 188 40.8% 189 41.0% 192 41.8% 195 42.5% 199 43.4% 205 44.7% 217 47.4% 220 49.1% 235 52.7%
Brendan Gill 110 23.9% 110 23.9% 110 24.0% 110 24.0% 110 24.0% 111 24.2% 117 25.6% 117 26.1% 131 29.4%
Analilia Mejia 36 7.8% 36 7.8% 36 7.8% 36 7.8% 44 9.6% 47 10.2% 48 10.5% 62 13.8% 80 17.9%
Tahesha Way 28 6.1% 28 6.1% 28 6.1% 29 6.3% 31 6.8% 36 7.8% 41 9.0% 49 10.9% Eliminated
Justin Strickland 31 6.7% 31 6.7% 31 6.8% 31 6.8% 32 7.0% 34 7.4% 35 7.6% Eliminated
John Bartlett 22 4.8% 23 5.0% 24 5.2% 25 5.5% 25 5.5% 26 5.7% Eliminated
Zach Beecher 13 2.8% 15 3.3% 15 3.3% 17 3.7% 18 3.9% Eliminated
Anna Lee Williams 8 1.7% 8 1.7% 8 1.7% 8 1.7% Eliminated
Cammie Croft 7 1.5% 8 1.7% 8 1.7% 8 1.7% Eliminated
Dean Dafis 7 1.5% 7 1.5% 7 1.5% Eliminated
Jeff Grayzel 6 1.3% 6 1.3% Eliminated
J-L Cauvin 5 1.1% Eliminated
Total ballots 461 ballots 459 ballots 458 ballots 448 ballots 446 ballots

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of January 16, 2026
Candidate Raised Spent Cash on hand
John Bartlett (D) $465,705 $394,510 $260,855
Zach Beecher (D) $504,638 $293,417 $211,221
J-L Cauvin (D) $100,000 $30,896 $69,103
Cammie Croft (D) $372,317 $239,229 $133,088
Brendan Gill (D) $808,103 $460,108 $347,995
Jeff Grayzel (D) $428,173 $351,604 $76,569
Tom Malinowski (D) $1,161,127 $756,929 $404,197
Analilia Mejia (D) $420,218 $62,097 $358,120
Justin Strickland (D) $70,012 $67,836 $2,175
Tahesha Way (D) $404,541 $319,178 $85,363
Anna Lee Williams (D) $26,422 $18,249 $8,172
Source: Federal Election Commission

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin
of error		 Brendan
Gill		 Tom
Malinowski		 Analilia
Mejia		 Tahesha
Way		 Other Undecided
GQR Research (D) November 19-23, 2025 400 (LV) ± 5.4% 12% 28% 5% 5% 19% 31%

Results

Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Analilia Mejia 19,789 29.33
Democratic Tom Malinowski 18,603 27.57
Democratic Tahesha Way 11,737 17.40
Democratic Brendan Gill 9,556 14.16
Democratic John Bartlett 1,825 2.71
Democratic Justin Strickland 1,391 2.06
Democratic Jeff Grayzel 1,311 1.94
Democratic Zach Beecher 1,310 1.94
Democratic Cammie Croft 719 1.07
Democratic Anna Lee Williams 528 0.78
Democratic J-L Cauvin 293 0.43
Democratic Dean Dafis (withdrawn) 280 0.42
Democratic Marc Chaaban (withdrawn) 123 0.18
Total votes 67,465 100.00
Results by county Results by municipality
Democratic county party endorsements Gill Malinowski Co-endorsement of Bartlett and Way
Democratic county party endorsements Gill Malinowski Co-endorsement of Bartlett and Way

02Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

  • Joe Hathaway, Randolph Township Council member and former mayor

Endorsements

Joe Hathaway
U.S. representatives
State legislators
Local officials

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of January 16, 2026
Candidate Raised Spent Cash on hand
Joe Hathaway (R) $260,813 $98,933 $161,879
Source: Federal Election Commission

Results

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Joe Hathaway 14,616 100.00
Total votes 14,616 100.00
Results by county: Mejia 20-30% 30-40% Malinowski 30-40%
Results by county: Mejia 20-30% 30-40% Malinowski 30-40%

03Third parties and independents

Candidates

Declared

  • Alan Bond (Hope For Tomorrow!), former money manager
Results by municipality: Mejia 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% Malinowski 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% Way 20-30% 30-40% Gill 20-30% 30-40%
Results by municipality: Mejia 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% Malinowski 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% Way 20-30% 30-40% Gill 20-30% 30-40%

04General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball Safe D December 14, 2025

Post-primary endorsements

Analilia Mejia (D)
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
Statewide officials
Local officials
Party officials
Party branches
Labor unions
Organizations
Joe Hathaway (R)
Statewide officials
Party officials
Party branches
Newspapers

Debates and forums

No. Date Host Moderator Link Democratic Republican
Key:

 P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Non-invitee   I  Invitee  W  Withdrawn
Mejia Hathaway
1 April 1, 2026 New Jersey Globe
The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University		 Joey Fox YouTube
C-SPAN		 P P

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin
of error		 Analilia
Mejia (D)		 Joe
Hathaway (R)		 Undecided
GBAO (D) March 8-10, 2026 500 (LV) ± 4.4% 53% 36% 11%

Results

2026 New Jersey's 11th congressional district special election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Analilia Mejia 81,825 60.18
Republican Joe Hathaway 53,520 39.36
Hope For Tomorrow! Alan Bond 625 0.46
Total votes 135,970 100.00
Democratic hold

By county

County Analilia Mejia
Democratic		 Joe Hathaway
Republican		 Alan Bond
Independent		 Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Essex (part) 35,496 71.41% 13,936 28.04% 275 0.55% 21,560 43.37% 49,707
Morris (part) 40,547 54.29% 33,843 45.31% 295 0.39% 6,704 8.98% 74,685
Passaic (part) 5,782 49.94% 5,741 49.59% 55 0.48% 41 0.35% 11,578
Totals81,82560.18%53,52039.36%6250.46%28,30520.82%135,970
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “2026 New Jersey's 11th congressional district special election”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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