Just in time to save your recycling bin from overflowing with mailers, the special election Democratic primary to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s former Congressional seat in New Jersey’s 11th District culminates on Thursday, Feb. 5 — Primary Election Day!
Find your polling place here. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The candidates are:
- Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett, johnbartlett.com
- Army Reserve member Zach Beecher, zachbeecher.com
- Community advocate, lawyer and comedian J-L Cauvin, jlfornj.com
- Former Obama administration member Cammie Croft, cammieforcongress.com
- Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, gillfornj.com
- Morris Township Committee member Jeff Grayzel, grayzelforcongress.com
- Former NJ-7 Congressman Tom Malinowski: malinowskifornj.com
- Co-Exec. Director of Popular Democracy Analilia Mejia, analiliafornj.com
- Chatham Councilman Justin Strickland, justinstrickland.com
- Former NJ Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State Tahesha Way, taheshaway.com
- Activist Anna Lee Williams, annaleewilliams.com
Village Green has profiled eight candidates — based on local interest and the time and personnel constraints of two-month campaign season. Read the profiles here: John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, Brendan Gill, Cammie Croft, Tom Malinowski, Analilia Mejia, Tahesha Way — and Maplewood’s own Dean Dafis, who has suspended his campaign.
Money Raised and Spent — including Attack Ads by PACs
According to FEC filings as of Jan, 16, Malinowski has raised the most money at $1.61M, with Gill following at over $800,000 (with $208K from himself). Beecher is the only other candidates to break $500,000 in fundraising. As SOMA Action pointed out in its analysis of candidates’ fundraising, Mejia has the most small dollar donations at $161,000.
But a big part of the money picture in the primary has been the money from PACs or political action committees.
According to NJ Spotlight News, “United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC [has] spent $1.45 million on broadcast and internet ads, direct mail and robocalls” attacking Malinowski.
Conversely, Project 218 PAC, has spent $452,774 to support his candidacy.
Way has raised $405,000, but has been supported by $1.4M in spending by the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, $350,000 by Article One Inc. PAC, and $15,000 by Rolling Sea Action Fund.
Gill has been supported by Affordability and Progress PAC, funded largely by union contributions, which has spent $61,000 on negative mailers attacking Malinowski and $32,000 on mailers promoting Gill.
Working Families Party PAC spent $183,280 supporting Mejia.
Read more financial analysis from NJ Spotlight here.
Read more financial analysis by SOMA Action here.
Why the attacks?
Attack ads in the campaign have overwhelmingly targeted Malinowski, who has been seen as a frontrunner.
Many of the attack ads that are funded by United Democracy Project accuse Malinowski of voting for a bill to support the Trump Administration’s current ICE activities.
The ads are misleading — even Gill called them a “stretch” on the Lee & Ian Show — as they reference a 2019 vote for $4.6 billion in emergency spending, mostly on humanitarian aid, that was supported by a majority of New Jersey’s Democratic House members, including Mikie Sherrill. A spokesman for United Democracy Project told The New York Times that it opposes Malinowski because he would seek to put conditions on aid to Israel.
Voter Guides
- SOMA Action interviewed all 12 Democratic primary candidates and summarized where each stands on 11 criteria. They also provided an in-depth assessment of fundraising. View the guide at somaaction.org/voter-guide.
- A voter’s menu in NJ-11: How to choose your candidate from a crowded Democratic buffet, Morristown Green
- NJ 11th for Change CD 11 Special Election Voter Guide
- 11th Congressional District Special Primary Election Profile, NJ Spotlight News
- NJ-11 Candidate Q&A on Challenges and Service of Transportation, Montclair Local
- The Lee & Ian Show in SOMA interviewed 11 of the candidates (with the exception of Analilia Mejia, with whom they were unable to schedule an interview) for the podcast. Listen here.
Local Endorsements
All five current Maplewood Township Committee members — including Mayor Vic De Luca, Deputy Mayor Malia Herman and TC Member and former Mayor Nancy Adams, TC Member and former Mayor Dean Dafis and TC Member Jane Collins-Colding — have endorsed Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill after Dafis bowed out of the race. Gill also has the support of former South Orange Village Council Member Deborah Davis Ford and Co-Chair of the South Orange Democratic Committee Larry Hirsch.
Former Maplewood Deputy Mayor Deb Engel, former Maplewood Deputy Mayor Jamaine Cripe and South Orange Council Member Bill Haskins have endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders’ former national political advisor Analilia Mejia.
South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum, plus South Orange Council Members Jen Greenberg and Olivia Lewis-Chang have endorsed former NJ-7 Congressman Tom Malinowski — as have former Maplewood Mayors Frank McGehee and Fred Profeta, as well as former Maplewood Township Committee Member Greg Lembrich.
What is NJ-11?
Maplewood and South Orange were redistricted from the 10th Congressional District into the 11th Congressional District after the 2020 U.S. Census. The current 11th Congressional District covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. The district includes:
- 14 Essex County municipalities: Belleville, Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, South Orange, West Caldwell and part of Montclair;
- 27+ Morris County municipalities: Boonton town and township, Butler, Chatham borough and township, Denville, Dover, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Madison, Montville, Morristown, Morris Township, Morris Plains, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany, Pequannock, Randolph, Riverdale, Rockaway borough and township, Victory Gardens and part of Mendham Township; and
- 4 Passaic County municipalities: Little Falls, Totowa, Woodland Park and part of Wayne.
NJ-11 Congressional District since 2023. Per Wikimedia Commons.
