TRENTON, N.J. — The special Democratic primary for the House seat vacated when Mikie Sherrill became governor remained too close to call Thursday. Former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski began the night with a sizable lead based on early mail-in returns, but the margin tightened as same-day votes were counted.
With more than 61,000 votes tallied, Analilia Mejia led Malinowski by 486 votes, under 1 percentage point. All three counties in the district — parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties — still had mail-in ballots to process, and ballots postmarked by election day can arrive and be counted through Wednesday, leaving the outcome uncertain. Malinowski had performed better than Mejia among the mail ballots already counted in each county.
The Democratic nominee will face Republican Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who ran unopposed in his primary, in the April 16 special general election.
Malinowski, who served two terms in the House before losing reelection in a different district in 2022, was endorsed by Sen. Andy Kim. Mejia, a former head of the state Working Families Alliance and Bernie Sanders’ 2020 political director, had endorsements from Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She also served in the Biden administration as deputy director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau.
Both Malinowski and Mejia were far ahead of the other Democratic contenders, including Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who has close ties to former Gov. Phil Murphy, and Tahesha Way, Murphy’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state until last month. Other candidates included John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, J-L Cauvin, Marc Chaaban, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Jeff Grayzel, Justin Strickland and Anna Lee Williams.
The special primary and subsequent April general will decide who serves the remainder of Sherrill’s term through January. A regular primary in June and general election in November will determine the next full two-year term. Sherrill, a Democrat, represented the district for four terms after her 2018 victory, reflecting a longer-term shift in the region’s political leanings that began during President Donald Trump’s first term.