Mikie Sherrill (D) resigned from Congress last month in advance of becoming governor in January, leaving the 11th District’s House seat vacant. (Photo by Amanda Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
A whopping 13 Democrats and a single Republican filed petitions Monday to get on the ballot for the special primary election to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in Congress.
Most of the would-be candidates are not a surprise. They started announcing their bids to replace Sherrill, a Democrat, even before she won the governor’s race on Nov. 4. She resigned from Congress effective Nov. 20, leaving a vacancy in the 11th Congressional District until Jan. 3, 2027.
The special primary is slated for Thursday, Feb. 5.
The Democrats who hope to compete in the primary are: Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett; Army veteran and businessman Zachary Beecher; attorney and comedian J-L Cauvin; former Sherrill intern Marc Chaaban; former Obama staffer Cammie Croft; Maplewood Committeeman Dean Dafis; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill; Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel; ex-Rep. Tom Malinowski; ex-Sen. Bernie Sanders advisor Analilia Mejia; Chatham Councilman Justin Strickland; Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way; and community activist Anna Lee Williams.
On the GOP side, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway is the sole candidate.
Most of the would-be candidates filed far more than the 500 signatures needed to win a spot on the ballot for the special primary. The deadline to file objections to petitions is Friday.
The Democratic winner will face Hathaway on Thursday, April 16.
Sherrill, who becomes governor on Jan. 20, said she won’t be weighing in on which candidate she supports. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) urged voters to cast their ballot for Gill, who managed Murphy’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) endorsed Malinowski.
The 11th District includes parts of Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. When Sherrill was first elected to represent it in 2018, she was the first Democrat to win the district in decades. Its boundaries have since been redrawn to make it easier for Democrats to win. It went for Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race by nearly 9 points, and Sherrill won it in last month’s gubernatorial race by about 15 points.
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