Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill announces his campaign to run for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District outside his parents’ home in Montclair on Nov. 10, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor)
It’s been less than a week since Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherill won the governor’s race, and Democrats are lining up to run for her House seat.
The race to represent the 11th Congressional District includes a former congressman, an ex-Obama administration staffer, two county commissioners, and a mayor.
“I think the more people that jump in, the better,” said Brendan Gill, an Essex County commissioner and political strategist who formally launched his campaign for Sherrill’s seat on Monday.
Gill, standing alongside supporters in the pouring rain outside his childhood home in Montclair, touted his ties to the Essex County town and his work in organizing Democrats to help elect Sherrill governor last week.
“I think what will ultimately be the differentiator for my candidacy is what you saw here today, is that community, deep roots and local support, because people know what I’ve done, they know that I’ve delivered, and they know I can do it in the future,” Gill said.
Gill is expected to face former Rep. Tom Malinowski, Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett, White House alum Cammie Croft, and Morris Township Mayor Jeff Grayzel, among others.
The campaign is expected to be fierce. Montclair Mayor Renee Baskerville appeared to take a shot at Malinowski Monday when she noted that Gill is running for Congress “where he actually lives.”
Malinowski lives in Hunterdon County. The 11th District includes parts of Morris, Essex, and Passaic counties.
In a statement, Malinowski said he works in the 11th District — he teaches at Seton Hall University — and will be a voting resident of it before the primary.
“I’m the only candidate in the race who has represented any part of the 11th District in Congress, the only one with experience fighting Trump and delivering for New Jersey communities as a member of Congress, and the only one who will be battle ready the day I’m elected,” Malinowski said.
Malinowski represented the 7th Congressional District for two terms starting in 2019 — he was elected to Congress in the same Democratic wave that propelled Sherrill there — before losing reelection in 2022 to Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R). When Malinowski was first elected to the 7th District, it included some towns that are now in the 11th District.
“I’m running for Congress again, to pick up where my friend Mikie Sherrill left off,” Malinowski said in a video launching his campaign last week.
Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who is leaving office after two terms in January, endorsed Gill while speaking with reporters at an unrelated event Monday. Murphy noted it’s an “impressive field” of candidates, but acknowledged he “wouldn’t be here without Brendan’s support.”
Gill managed Murphy’s first campaign for governor in 2017, and prior to that managed campaigns for Sen. Cory Booker and the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
It’s not entirely clear when the candidates will compete to succeed Sherrill, whose current House term runs until Jan. 3, 2027. She has yet to resign from the House, and the governor cannot call a special election to find her replacement until she does. She becomes governor on Jan. 20 and cannot also serve in Congress.
She said last week she’d work with leadership in both the House and the state Legislature to “get a new person in that seat.” She said she “likely won’t be getting involved.”
The 11th District had been a Republican stronghold before Sherrill won it in 2018. Its boundaries have since been redrawn to make it safer for Democrats to win.
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