WASHINGTON (AP) — Residents of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District will have a representative in Congress for the first time this year after a special election on Thursday to fill the House seat most recently held by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
A Democratic victory in the Democratic-leaning district would further narrow the slim majority Republicans hold in the chamber.
The major party nominees to replace Sherrill are Democrat Analilia Mejia, a longtime progressive organizer and former Labor Department official, and Republican Joe Hathaway, a member of the Randolph Township Council.
Mejia, who had the early backing of progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, narrowly won the Feb. 5 Democratic special primary against a crowded field that included former Rep. Tom Malinowski and former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. Malinowski was attempting a comeback after losing a neighboring House seat in 2022.
Hathaway ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.
The war in Gaza, which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and support for Israel have been major issues in the campaign. A super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent more than $2.3 million to defeat Malinowski, who had questioned providing unconditional aid to the Israeli government. During a primary campaign forum, Mejia was the only candidate to indicate she believes Israel committed genocide in Gaza. She has also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal. Hathaway has said the U.S. should stand “ in lockstep ” with Israel and opposes putting conditions on aid to an ally.
Mejia had raised about $1.1 million for the special primary and special election and had about $374,000 in her campaign account as of March 27. Hathaway had raised about $525,000 for his campaign and had about $109,000 in the bank.
Democrats have held an advantage in general elections in the district. Sherrill won reelection in 2024 with about 57% of the vote, while Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried the district with 53% at the top of the ballot.
More than half of the district’s 588 precincts are in Morris County, with about 39% in Essex County and 9% in Passaic County. The district’s portion of Essex County is heavily Democratic: Harris carried the area with 64% in 2024. President Donald Trump narrowly won the district’s share of Morris County by about 1 percentage point. He carried the district’s small portion of Passaic County with about 57% of its vote.
The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
New Jersey does not have automatic recounts, but candidates and voters may request and pay for them, with the cost refunded if the outcome changes. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:
When do polls close?
Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The AP will provide vote results and declare a winner in the special congressional election in the 11th District. In addition to the candidates named on the ballot, voters also have a write-in option.
Who gets to vote?
Any voter registered in the 11th District may participate in the special election.
What do turnout and advance vote look like?
As of April 1, there were about 603,000 registered voters in the 11th Congressional District. Of those, about 230,000 were Democrats, about 165,000 were Republicans and about 204,000 were not affiliated with any party. The remainder were registered with various minor parties.
More than 68,000 ballots were cast in the Feb. 5 Democratic special primary and about 16,000 in the Republican contest.
About 394,000 votes were cast in the 2024 general election, with nearly half cast before Election Day.
As of Tuesday, about 58,000 votes had already been cast, including about 36,000 from Democrats, about 15,000 from Republicans and nearly 8,000 from unaffiliated voters.
How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the Feb. 5 special primary, the AP first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The last update of the night was at 10:30 p.m. ET with about 91% of total votes counted. The AP called the race at 5:34 p.m. on Feb. 12.
When are early and absentee voting results released?
All counties in New Jersey release most or all the results from early and absentee voting in the first vote update of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released.
Are we there yet?
As of Thursday, there will be 201 days until this seat is up again in the 2026 midterm elections.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.
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