The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, the political arm of the largest group of left-leaning members of Congress, has endorsed Analilia Mejia in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, adding to Mejia’s already formidable array of progressive supporters.
“[Mejia] is running to prioritize families and the working class by building a world-class transit system & guaranteeing universal health care and childcare,” the PAC said on social media. “We enthusiastically support proven progressive champion and changemaker Analilia Mejia in her campaign for #NJ11!”
The endorsement is yet another sign that Mejia, who was Bernie Sanders’s 2020 national political director, is the preferred choice of national progressive groups and politicians. Mejia has Sanders’s backing, as well as that of several top Sanders allies and the Working Families Party.
But the Progressive Caucus PAC’s involvement in the race also indicates where Mejia herself would fall ideologically if she wins the seat. Typically, when Democratic candidates are endorsed by any of the three main ideological caucus PACs (the Progressive Caucus, the center-left New Democrats, and the centrist Blue Dogs), they then join those caucuses in Congress – though the endorsement does not preclude one of Mejia’s rivals from joining the caucus if they beat her.
Five New Jersey representatives are currently part of the 96-member Progressive Caucus, an all-time high: Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), Donald Norcross (D-Camden), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).
