New Jersey special election 2026: Former Congressman Tom Malinowski concedes primary to Analilia Mejia

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Former New Jersey Congressman Tom Malinowski conceded the special Democratic primary election in the state’s 11th Congressional District to community organizer Analilia Mejia.

Malinowski posted a statement on social media Tuesday morning congratulating Mejia on her victory.

​​“I look forward to supporting her in the April general election,” he said. “It is essential that we send a Democrat to Washington to fill this seat, not a rubber stamp for Trump.”

On her campaign Facebook page, Mejia’s campaign posted an image of the moment Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny won the Grammy Award for album of the year. She would deliver her victory speech Tuesday afternoon in Montclair.

“This is a race in which community stepped up and said, in this moment, what we want are real representatives,” she said. “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 interest.”

Mejia will now face Republican Joe Hathaway, mayor of Randolph Township, in the special general election in April for the seat Gov. Mikie Sherrill formerly held.

The Associated Press has not called the race. As of 10:10 a.m. Tuesday, Malinowski was trailing by more than 1% of the vote.

A community organizer and daughter of immigrants, Mejia aligned herself with several progressive groups and politicians, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Malinowski, who served two terms as the U.S. representative in the neighboring 7th District, was aiming for a political comeback after losing reelection to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in 2022, after the district was redrawn to be more competitive.

Mejia’s victory over Malinowski can be fairly called an upset, according to Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

“She got in the race late, raised significantly less money, and just set her sights on turning out every progressive voter throughout the district,” he said.

In talking about her campaign, Mejia said, “We knew we were behind,” adding that she raised $600,000, compared to Malinowski, who raised at least $1.2 million in the lead-up to Election Day.

“We didn’t have the infrastructure that a machinery would offer,” she said. “We didn’t have the millions of dollars that our opponents had. We knew we would be outspent 10 to one.”

Mejia has been staunch in her call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, especially in light of the agency’s recent actions in Minnesota, where agents killed two U.S. citizens.

She doubled down on her call, adding four specific actions: Cut off funding for the agency, claw back the $75 billion supplement the agency received under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, prevent ICE officers from performing data collection and surveillance, and remove officers from qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that protects public officials from civil liability when performing their job.

“We must have accountability. That does not mean open borders. That does not mean a nonexistent system,” she said. “We do have to have a fair process, but it has to be free of violence, it has to be free of the surveillance, and it has to uphold our constitutional rights.”

According to a WHYY News analysis, nearly a third of Democratic voters had voted in the primary. Rasmussen notes that despite the weather on Election Day, it’s likely that there will be between 12,000 and 15,000 more votes cast compared to any House primary in 2024.

“That’s unusual for a special election on a cold Thursday in February,” he said. “[It] suggests that Democrats are highly motivated to vote no matter where or when.”