Democratic voters will have nearly a dozen candidates to choose from on Thursday’s ballot in the special election primary in New Jersey‘s 11th Congressional District.
There are 11 Democratic candidates duking it out in Thursday’s primary as they vie to see who will take on GOP candidate Joe Hathaway in the general election to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill‘s (D-NJ) vacant seat in the House. Sherrill, the former 11th District representative, resigned from the House after she won her 2025 gubernatorial election, setting the stage for a special election to fill the remainder of her term that will expire in January 2027.
The candidates largely seen as the front-runners vying for the Democratic nomination are: former New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill; Analilia Mejia, former national political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); and former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way.
Other candidates include Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett; Morris Township Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Grayzel; Chatham Borough Councilman Justin Strickland; Cammie Croft, a staffer in former President Barack Obama’s White House; Army veteran Jack Beecher; comedian and lawyer J-L Cauvin; and Anna Lee Williams.
The primary election is Thursday, while the general special election will be held on April 16. The seat will then be up for grabs again during the regular midterm election cycle on Nov. 3, with the regular primaries being held on June 2.
Tom Malinowski
Malinowski, the former representative for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, is taking another shot at running to represent New Jersey in the upper chamber. The former two-term congressman lost out to Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in 2022 after the Garden State redistricted. Per his campaign website, Malinowski is running again to “lower costs,” “protect democracy,” “fight corruption,” and “regulate technology.”
Malinowski notched an anti-establishment endorsement from Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) in December 2025, as Kim called him someone with a “heart of service” who “knows the House of Representatives, he knows Congress, he knows New Jersey, he knows how to be able to stand up against Donald Trump.”
Analilia Mejia
Fighting from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Mejia says she is running to “transform our economy so it works for working families, not just the wealthy and powerful” and to “stop authoritarianism, reform the courts, and protect our democracy.”
Mejia, a grassroots organizer and mother, was the national political director for Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign and served in the Labor Department under former President Joe Biden. The daughter of Dominican and Colombian immigrants has picked up several high-profile endorsements from officials including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Brendan Gill
Gill, former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy‘s 2017 campaign manager and a current Essex County Commissioner, notched the Democratic establishment endorsement from Murphy. Gill’s former boss told New Jerseyians, “We need Brendan in D.C., to help lower costs, complete the Gateway program, and protect our freedoms.”
Gill also served as a senior adviser to some of New Jersey’s political giants in Washington, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and former Sen. Frank Lautenberg. On Gill’s campaign website, he says he is running to “fight for working families, protect our democracy, and make sure everyone has a seat at the table.”
Tahesha Way
Way, the former lieutenant governor and secretary of state under Murphy, says she is running “to defend democracy and make New Jersey more affordable for working families.” Her main policy issues on her campaign website focus on “lowering costs for New Jersey families,” “making healthcare accessible and affordable,” and “protecting our Democracy from Donald Trump.”
Way has notched endorsements from groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus PAC and the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC.
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Bartlett, Grayzel, Strickland, Croft, Beecher, Cauvin, and Lee Williams
Bartlett, Grayzel, Strickland, Croft, Beecher, Cauvin, and Lee Williams make up the rest of the pack fighting to try to take on Joe Hathaway, the Republican mayor of Randolph Township, in the general special election.
Bartlett has served in the Passaic County government since 2012. He is running on the pillars of democracy, affordability, and accountability. The Passaic County Democratic Committee has endorsed both Bartlett and Way in the race.