A “progressive” Democrat won the former House seat of New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill in a special election held Thursday.
Backed by far-leftists like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep.-elect Analilia Mejia coasted to victory on a staunchly anti-Trump, anti-GOP agenda, according to Politico.
Analilia Mejia has officially defeated Joe Hathaway to become the next congresswoman of New Jersey’s 11th District and replace Mikie Sherrill’s seat in Congress. pic.twitter.com/B9POqdO7su
— National Chronicle (@NCNewsOnX) April 17, 2026
In fact, she even used her Thursday night victory speech to smear President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and even Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk as “radicals who are willing to upend our democracy, subvert our Constitution, and act with impunity.”
“We must stop them,” she maintained. “These radicals will watch Rome burn with all of us within, and they are simply cowards — cowards unwilling to stand up to this madness. But we stand up, we resist, we will not allow it to continue.”
Barring any unforeseen circumstance, Mejia will now hold Sherrill’s former position until an official election is held in November.
Congratulations to @AnaliliaForNJ on being elected today to represent the people of New Jersey’s 11th District! I know Analilia is a fierce fighter for families, and will work to drive down costs just as much as she will to stand up to Trump when he harms New Jersey. I was…
— Mikie Sherrill (@MikieSherrill) April 17, 2026
The Republican opponent she defeated, Joe Hathaway, plans to challenge her again if he wins the GOP primary race in June.
“He said he will keep a close eye on her voting record in the meantime and ‘will continue fighting for affordability, public safety, accountable government, and I will continue to stand up for the families of NJ-11,'” according to Politico.
Prior to Thursday’s victory, Mejia won a Democratic primary in February against former Rep. Tom Malnowski. She reportedly won in part due to AIPAC’s heavy campaigning against Malnowski because he wouldn’t pledge unconditional support for U.S. military aid to Israel.
Critics say AIPAC’s decision to focus on attacking Malnowski backfired, because it led to a “progressive” even worse than him winning.
Matt Bennett, the co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way, called AIPAC’s involvement in the race “one of the greatest own-goals in American political history” and warned that “it hurt everybody in the moderate movement.”
Even Rep. Brad Schneider, a longtime AIPAC supporter, was left flustered.
“There’s a chance that it’s not going to be a New Dem that’s in that seat,” he said in early February, referencing the centrist New Democrat Coalition that he leads. “Certainly any group spending against a candidate that would’ve been a New Dem and instead electing a far-left candidate … Come on, guys, this is not what we were hoping for here.”
After Mejia won the primary, Republicans campaigned against her by portraying her as radically to the left, but the message failed to gain traction in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 60,000 voters.
Far-left NJ Democrat Analilia Mejia is running on a full rap sheet of extreme policies – abolish ICE, attack policing, socialist health care – straight out of the Bernie-AOC playbook
Republican Joe @HathawayForNJ11 will lower costs, protect public safety & fight for common sense pic.twitter.com/ygYFchXwQM
— NRCC (@NRCC) April 10, 2026
The campaigning against her failed despite her own radical rhetoric, which focused on “abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to Politico.
She also “framed her campaign in the general election as defeating ‘MAGA extremists'” and “touted national paid sick days, Medicare for All, and taking on big corporations.”
Her history also points to radicalism: She served as Sanders’ political director when he ran for president in 2020, and she later served as the deputy director of the labor department’s women’s bureau in the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, thanks to Mejia’s victory, House Republicans’ tiny majority has shrunk even more.
“When Mejia is sworn in, Johnson will only be able to afford a single GOP defection on party-line votes and still pass legislation,” CNN notes. “The partisan breakdown will stand at 217 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and three seats vacant.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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