April 17 (UPI) — Analilia Mejia won the vacant U.S. House seat in New Jersey in a special election on Thursday, maintaining control of the seat for the Democratic Party.
Mejia beat Republican candidate Joe Hathaway by about 20 points to win New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill previously held the House seat before being elected in November.
The district was won by former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by about nine points.
“To NJ-11: Thank you!,” Mejia posted on social media. “I’m honored to be elected your next congresswoman. This victory belongs to all of us! We won by organizing our communities and that work doesn’t stop now. As your congresswoman, I’ll fight for you every day and together we’re just getting started.”
Mejia was an aide for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., when he ran for president in 2020. She was endorsed by Sanders, as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She will serve the remaining eight months of Sherrill’s term and plans to run for re-election in November.
When Mejia won the Democratic primary in February, she denounced the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s spending on the race to attack one of her opponents, former Rep. Tom Malinowski. The super PAC spent millions of dollars on the race.
“I think that it is part of their brand — to misconstrue facts, to confuse voters and to try to create division just so that they can get what they explicitly have stated they desire, which is a blank, unquestioned submission,” Mejia said.
Mejia’s stance on Israel was brought up during the debate with Hathaway when he called her an “anti-Semite” for saying that she believes Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. She defended her stance in the debate and said she would “use every legislative power at my disposal to protect the rights of Jewish constituents and convene spaces to educate and to fight anti-Semitism,” if elected to Congress.