Progressives unite behind Analilia Mejia in crowded special congressional primary

In the frantic scramble to succeed Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, a clear and defiant front-runner has emerged from the left, assembling an endorsement coalition that frames the crowded Democratic primary as a binary choice between the establishment and the movement.

Analilia Mejia, a seasoned organizer and former senior Biden administration official, is not merely collecting nods; she is consolidating the institutional muscle of the party’s progressive wing in a public rebuke of politics-as-usual.

Mejia’s rollout has been a strategic masterclass in progressive validation. Her campaign announcements were swiftly followed by endorsements from national progressive standard-bearer Senator Bernie Sanders, who praised her integrity and fight for “sick days, health care, and fair wages,” and California Rep. Ro Khanna, her former colleague from the Sanders 2020 campaign.

This national backing was immediately reinforced at home by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a dominant progressive voice in New Jersey politics, who signaled his support by prominently featuring Mejia at a major political gathering.

The core of her support, however, is built on the bedrock of organized labor and grassroots organizing networks, effectively locking down the left flank of the primary.

The endorsements form a formidable roster: the New Jersey Working Families Party, which she once led; Make the Road Action New Jersey; Popular Democracy Action; New Jersey Citizen Action; the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC; SEIU New Jersey State Council; 32BJ-SEIU; CWA Local 1037; and the Rutgers AAUP-AFT.

This assembly represents the operational engine of progressive policy fights in the state, from the successful battles for a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave to robust grassroots electoral mobilization.

Mejia’s campaign team is expecting a surprise guest to appear in the state on January 19, and there is speculation that Sanders, or perhaps Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will appear on her behalf.

Further consolidating her position, Mejia secured the endorsement of former congressional candidate Marc Chaaban, who suspended his own anti-corruption campaign and explicitly called for the field’s reformers to unite behind her as the only viable movement candidate.

Adding out-of-state progressive heft, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a former congressman and early Sanders supporter, also threw his support behind Mejia.

The collective message from this alliance is inflammatory in its clarity: the primary issue is not about minor ideological differences but about allegiance.

In a statement emblematic of this push, anti-establishment activist Lisa McCormick said of Mejia, “There’s only one choice for progressive Democrats.”

The supporting organizations echo this, with Popular Democracy Action labeling Mejia “a proven working-class leader ready to fight for economic justice, immigrant rights, and a multiracial democracy,” while the Working Families Party asserts that she “won’t fold to corporations or billionaires.”

This coordinated effort seeks to render Mejia not just a candidate, but the singular vessel for progressive hopes in a safe Democratic district, where nefarious neoliberals have big financial and organizational advantages.

Notoriously misogynistic Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill’s campaign audaciously announced the endorsement of a labor leader federal officials repeatedly described as a Genovese crime family associate and Democrats who in 2013 endorsed Republican Gov. Chris Christie for re-election.

If carpetbagging former Rep. Tom Malinowski returns to Congress, an unresolved House Ethics Committee review into his undisclosed stock trades could await him.

The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint after Malinowski failed to file timely reports for over 100 stock trades between 2019 and 2021, potentially involving up to $5 million in value, many related to the COVID-19 response.

The day New Jersey’s disgraced ex-senator was to begin an 11-year prison sentence for selling his political power to two foreign governments in exchange for gold bars, a luxury car, and other bribes, Malinowski said, “I think Sen. Menendez had a long career in which he did a lot of good for the country and the state.”

While Malinowski might have no moral compass, he commands a lead with 25 percent in the polls, and more money banked than any other contender in the February 5 special primary election.

It is a deliberate and aggressive strategy to polarize the electorate early, presenting voters with a stark referendum on whether to continue Sherrill’s moderate legacy or to empower the very activist networks that have repeatedly challenged the state’s political old guard.

The primary, scheduled for February 5, 2026, will test whether a well-organized progressive bloc can overwhelm a fractured field and definitively shift the district’s political identity.