Democrat Analilia Mejía, a progressive organizer with ties to labor interests, won Thursday’s special election in New Jersey for the seat formerly held by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

Mejía was leading Republican Joe Hathaway, the mayor of Randolph Township, 70% to 29% not long after The Associated Press called the race for North Jersey’s 11th District shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern time.

She had been the presumptive general election winner since clinching a narrow victory over former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a Feb. 5 special election primary for the solidly Democratic seat. In 2024, Kamala Harris carried the district by 9 points over Donald Trump, according to calculations by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, while Sherrill was reelected by 15 points.

Mejía’s victory will help Democrats regain a valuable House vote amid a week of dramatic shake-ups in both parties. Tuesday saw two resignations and one new member: California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzales both left the House over accusations of sexual misconduct on the same day that Georgia Republican Clay Fuller was sworn in to succeed former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

A former union organizer and activist, Mejía credits her campaign success to a grassroots approach to voter outreach, such as directly asking morning rail commuters about transportation issues. She hopes to bring the same emphasis to Congress.

“I approach this job … as an organizer who believes that we have to start by understanding where our constituents are, what are the issues that impact them the most and thinking through multipronged solutions,” Mejía said in an interview before Thursday’s election.

Born in Elizabeth, N.J., to blue-collar immigrants from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, Mejía traces her political roots to seeing how much her family’s lives changed when her mother, a garment worker, joined a union.

With more economic stability in the family, Mejía said, “My sister and I started dreaming about what we could be.”

Mejía has worked for the Service Employees International Union, the Working Families Party and several Democratic political campaigns across New Jersey. She also had a stint in the Labor Department during the Biden administration.

The opportunity to run for Congress came when Sherrill won the off-year gubernatorial race in November and stepped down from her 11th District seat later that month.

“Frankly, I looked at my own options, because I would have been a constituent of anyone who got elected, and … I knew that I could provide more as a candidate and potential representative, and so I jumped in,” Mejía recalled.

She ran with strong union support and the backing of prominent progressives, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar of Texas.

Some of her policy proposals include national paid sick leave and free college and student loan forgiveness, alongside progressive causes such as the “Medicare for All” plan for universal public health care coverage.

If her platform resembles the populism of Sanders’ past presidential bids, it isn’t incidental: Mejía was policy director on the senator’s 2020 presidential campaign and worked on the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force that drafted policy proposals for Joe Biden after he defeated Sanders for the nomination.

Mejía’s top primary opponent was Malinowski, who represented the neighboring 7th District for two terms. The former congressman was the top fundraiser in the primary, outraising Mejía $1.2 million to $420,000 through Jan. 16.

But Mejía was the unintended beneficiary of $2.3 million in spending against Malinowski by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee through its super PAC, the United Democracy Project. That spending seemingly helped to clear a path for Mejía, who has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The initial margin between Mejía and Malinowski was so close that The Associated Press didn’t call the race for a week. Malinowski conceded on Feb. 10 and threw his support behind Mejía in the general election.

While she shares policy goals with some of her party’s left-most members, Mejía rejects the suggestion that she’ll be the next member of “the Squad,” a group of progressive firebrands that include Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar.

Instead, she argues that Democrats won’t meet the political moment if they split themselves into subgroups: “We lose sight of our purpose if we’re focused more on us versus them.”

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