The 14-candidate field for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district may soon be growing to 15: Kennedy Pivnick, a Parsippany native who worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until earlier this year, is taking steps towards a campaign.
The 27-year-old Pivnick, who now lives in Livingston, has filed fundraising paperwork with the Federal Election Commission for a campaign and is gathering signatures ahead of the December 1 deadline, but has not yet officially entered the race.
From May 2024 through April 2025, Pivnick worked as a legal intern at FERC, an independent federal agency that regulates energy prices and reliability. She graduated from Georgetown Law School earlier this year, and returned to New Jersey shortly afterwards.
The 11th district was held until last week by Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, whose departure kickstarted a rapidly developing special election. Candidates will have to file 500 signatures by Monday in order to run, with the primary approaching on February 5.
If Pivnick does indeed run for the district, she’ll go up against a huge Democratic field that includes the sitting lieutenant governor, a former congressman, a number of local and county elected officials, and as of today the national political director on Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.
Pivnick would also be one of several candidates in the race vying to become New Jersey’s first Gen Z member of Congress; the same is true of former congressional staffer Marc Chaaban and activist Anna Lee Williams.
