MORRISTOWN—Newark Mayor Ras Baraka took the stage at a New Jersey League of Municipalities party in Atlantic City on November 20, 2025, grasped Analilia Mejia’s hand, and announced to assembled municipal officials: "She's running for Congress, y'all." Two weeks later, Baraka formally endorsed Mejia for the 11th Congressional District. 

The moment captured how New Jersey’s 2026 congressional primaries have metastasized into a statewide ideological brawl: one that pits gubernatorial power blocs against each other, national immigration enforcement advocates against abolitionists, and county party machinery against insurgent movements.

The three contested primaries—CD7, CD8, and CD11—now function as proving grounds for unresolved issues from the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, with congressional control serving as both training ground and proxy battlefield.

CD11: The Abolitionist vs. Restrictionist vs. Enforcement Bellwether

The 11th District, which includes parts of Morris, Essex and Passaic Counties,  has emerged as the most expensive and ideologically charged contest in the state, functioning as a national referendum on Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy. Nearly $5 million in external spending has been spent to saturate the Newark and suburban media markets.

Analilia Mejia, who won the February 5 four-way Democratic primary with 29 percent of the vote, campaigned on abolishing ICE and closing immigration detention centers. Former Congressman Tom Malinowski positioned himself as a moderate Democrat, but his mild criticism of US-Israel policy drew the ire of the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC). That group and its affiliate, the United Democracy Project, spent $2.3 million attacking Malinowski for his 2019 vote on ICE funding. 

The district’s voter rolls show a voter breakdown of 38% Democratic, 27% Republican, and 35% unaffiliated across Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. Those demographics made the district a proving ground for progressive immigration policy in a suburban environment.

Governor Mikie Sherrill, who vacated the seat to run for governor, endorsed Mejia for the April 16 special general election, along with Senator Cory Booker and Democratic State Chairman LeRoy Jones. But the endorsement carried implicit limits: it covered the special election only, with no commitment to the June 2 regular primary. Sherrill’s own positioning on immigration reveals the fault lines. She signed Executive Order 12 on February 11, 2026, restricting ICE from staging operations on state property and launching a resident reporting portal, but she pointedly ignored reporter questions on whether she supports abolishing ICE. The silence places her in a "restrictionist" middle ground between Mejia’s abolitionist stance and Republican enforcement platforms.

The special general election devolved into institutional friction on March 20, when the League of Women Voters canceled the sole scheduled debate. Mejia had demanded advance approval of moderators, citing the need for diversity. The League responded that its proposed moderator was already a "trained professional and a person of color," and that nonpartisan policy prohibits candidate veto over selection. Mejia refused to participate under League terms, and the debate collapsed.

Republican nominee Joe Hathaway, the Randolph mayor who ran unopposed in the GOP special primary with 14,616 votes, seized the cancellation as evidence of Mejia’s evasion. He offered to let her choose the moderators entirely; she declined, stating there was "very little to debate between our positions." The New York Post editorial board then endorsed Hathaway, attacking Mejia’s accusations that Israel committed "genocide" in Gaza and labeling her a "radical, antisemitic socialist" who "makes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez look moderate." Hathaway echoed that language on the campaign trail.

Hathaway’s platform explicitly targets Sherrill’s executive order and Mejia’s immigration positions. He supports requiring police cooperation with federal immigration authorities, ending sanctuary city policies, and blocking non-citizens from accessing social services, positions diametrically opposed to both Mejia’s abolitionist framework and Sherrill’s restrictionist executive order. He has made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign, citing his experience supervising Randolph’s 40-officer police department and his tenure as vice chair of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

The New Jersey Education Association, representing 200,000 teachers, countered by endorsing Mejia on March 18 for both the special and regular elections, providing organized labor muscle that substitutes for debate exposure. Passaic County Democrats had already endorsed Mejia for the regular primary on February 14, creating a northern county firewall against Essex County Democratic Committee opposition.

Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way, who finished third in the February special primary, confirmed on March 23 she will not file for the June regular primary, removing a potential establishment challenger. Malinowski, who blamed AIPAC’s spending for his defeat and has not ruled out running for the regular term, threatened to oppose AIPAC-backed candidates in June. Malinowski’s independent candidacy could split the anti-Mejia vote if he enters.

CD8: The Fulop-Menendez Entente

In the 8th Congressional District, the primary contest between incumbent Rob Menendez and Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea has reanimated a messy political feud between former Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and the Menendez political dynasty. The conflict carries implications for future gubernatorial elections, despite a current truce and alliance between the parties.

Menendez consolidated his control of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) machine on January 8, after securing endorsements from state Senator Brian P. Stack (Union City), Fulop and six municipal mayors. AFSCME Council 63, representing 12,000 public service workers, added its endorsement on March 19, providing the ground-game infrastructure necessary to convert organizational support into votes.

But the Menendez-Fulop alliance masks a deeper rupture. Fulop previously declared he would not support Menendez in the 2024 general election, following the federal corruption indictment of Menendez’s father, former US Senator Robert “Bob” Menendez. Menendez Jr. retaliated by attacking Fulop’s "Rhode Island mansion" and accusing him of presiding over a "housing affordability crisis" in Jersey City while living out of state. Comments by Menendez in 2023 carried particular venom: "Steven Fulop has been running for governor unsuccessfully since he was elected mayor in 2013, always at the expense of Jersey City residents."

The Menendez-Stack partnership carries statewide weight. Stack’s Union City-based machine, which controls Hudson County’s largest vote-producing municipality, has historically been a kingmaker for gubernatorial candidates. Menendez’s ability to secure Stack’s loyalty, cemented through the HCDO endorsement, positions the congressman as the machine’s favored son in a potential gubernatorial succession battle. Meanwhile, O’Dea’s challenge represents the progressive reform wing’s attempt to break the HCDO’s two-decade lock on the district.

CD7: Suburban Consolidation vs. Exurban Labor

The 7th Congressional District primary presents a counter-narrative to the machine chaos of CD8 and CD11: a consolidation of suburban county organizations behind a single candidate that threatens to overwhelm progressive challengers through resource concentration.

Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, secured three critical suburban county endorsements in four days: Hunterdon County on March 1, Somerset County on March 19, and Union County.

But Warren County Democrats broke the suburban pattern by endorsing Megan O’Rourke, a Phillipsburg native and former USDA climate advisor with American Federation of Government Employees backing. This labor-progressive alliance won the exurban Warren County endorsement despite Bennett’s fundraising dominance.

The Cook Political Report moved CD7 from Lean Republican to Toss Up in November 2025, citing Kean’s narrow 51.8% reelection margin in 2024 and the district’s demographic drift toward Democrats. The rating shift triggered the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s December 2025 decision to target Kean in the 2026 election.

With the June 2 primaries already fast approaching, the conflicts over personality and policy will affect the shape of political developments up to and after election day.

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Sources

• NJ Division of Elections, "Candidate Filings" (2026)

• State of New Jersey, "Executive Order 12" (February 11, 2026)

• Federal Election Commission, "Campaign Finance Filings" (2025–2026)

• Morris County Democratic Committee, "Screening Documents" (2026)

• David Wildstein, New Jersey Globe, "Mejia Wins 11th District Special Primary" (February 5, 2026)

• Max Pizarro, Insider NJ, "Baraka Endorses Mejia for Congress" (December 4, 2025)

• Matt Friedman, Politico NJ, "Sherrill Signs Executive Order Restricting ICE Operations" (February 11, 2026)

• Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Globe, "League of Women Voters Cancels CD11 Debate" (March 20, 2026)

• NJ Spotlight News, "NJEA Endorses Mejia in 11th District Race" (March 18, 2026)

• NBC News Decision Desk, "New Jersey 11th District Special Primary Results" (February 5, 2026)

• Cook Political Report, "CD7 Rating Shift: Lean Republican to Toss Up" (November 2025)

• American Prospect, "The AIPAC Spending Spree in New Jersey" (2025)

• Essex County Democratic Committee, "Endorsement Announcements" (2026)

• AFSCME Council 63, "Endorsement of Rob Menendez" (March 19, 2026)

• New Jersey Education Association, "Mejia Endorsement Statement" (March 18, 2026)

• League of Women Voters of New Jersey, "Debate Cancellation Notice" (March 20, 2026)

• New York Post Editorial Board, "Joe Hathaway for Congress" (March 2026)