WAYNE — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed Donald Trump as a “narcissistic, mentally unstable” president to a crowd of about 1,200 on the William Paterson University campus on Monday at a campaign event boosting congressional candidate Analilia Mejia.
During a 40-minute speech, Sanders said wealth inequality is plaguing the United States, criticized the role money plays in politics, and advocated for electing more progressives to positions of power.
“When we stand together, not only will we defeat Trumpism, but we will create the type of nation and government the American people deserve,” said Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
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Mejia is one of 11 Democrats vying in a Feb. 5 special primary to win their party’s nomination in the race to fill the House vacancy left when Mikie Sherrill resigned to become governor (Sherrill will be sworn in Tuesday at noon).
A Glen Ridge activist and former Sanders staffer, Mejia took the stage to the strains of Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” and then took aim at corporate greed and authoritarianism.
Growing up as the daughter of immigrants who fled political and economic violence, Mejia relied on free health clinics and food pantries, and sometimes went without meals, she said. She hears similar stories of economic struggle from her neighbors now, she added.
“This world doesn’t feel built to represent, to allow us all to thrive. This world, our economy, our democracy, seems captured by big money, by oligarchs, by people who care more about adding another zero to their offshore bank account or trading in stocks when they shouldn’t be,” she said.
The line about trading stock is an apparent shot at former Rep. Tom Malinowski, another candidate in the race to succeed Sherrill. The Office of Congressional Ethics in 2021 alleged Malinowski, who served two terms in the House starting in 2019, violated federal laws by not timely disclosing stock sales made by his broker, an error Malinowski has said was a careless mistake.
Sanders’ stop at William Paterson University was part of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The former presidential candidate — who often co-headlines with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), another Mejia backer — has drawn thousands of people at his rallies nationwide.
On Monday, more than 500 people listened to the speakers from a separate room, where Sanders and Mejia delivered hot chocolate before addressing the raucous crowd.
Sanders’ appearance in Wayne underscores the national attention on the race to succeed Sherrill in the 11th Congressional District, which includes towns in Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. The district was a Republican stronghold until Sherrill flipped it to the Democratic column in 2018, and its boundaries have since changed to make it a safer seat for Democrats to win.
In addition to Malinowski and Mejia, the Democrats competing in the Feb. 5 primary are: Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett; Army veteran and businessman Zachary Beecher; attorney and comedian J-L Cauvin; former Obama staffer Cammie Croft; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill; Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel; Chatham Councilman Justin Strickland, a U.S. Army veteran; Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way; and community activist Anna Lee Williams.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary, on April 16.
During Monday’s rally, hundreds of audience members chanted “Sign the bill!” to urge Gov. Phil Murphy to sign legislation on his desk that would codify and expand protections for undocumented immigrants and limit local cooperation with federal immigration agents. Murphy leaves office Tuesday at noon, and any legislation he doesn’t sign by then will not become law.
During Mejia’s speech, the crowd also chanted “Abolish ICE!”
“It is shameful that those with power sit on their hands while working people are out in the streets, armed with whistles, demanding justice — braver than anything I’ve ever seen at a Congress,” she said.
Mejia’s campaign has criticized her opponents for being part of the “political machine,” which Gill has taken to mean a swipe at him because he has the support of numerous Democratic officials from Essex and Morris counties. Asked about Mejia’s support from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Gill noted that they are “out of state” members of Congress.
“That doesn’t hold a lot of weight with me because I don’t really know what that person would know about the local issues that the communities that you’re seeking to represent are basically,” Gill said.
Way, like Gill, questioned whether support from non-Jersey Democrats will resonate with voters in the 11th District.
“From day one, as a county commissioner up until now, my focus is just being on the voters, right, and their interests. They’re worried about their rights, their wallets, the personal attacks, and that is why I am in this race. And I’m going to deliver for them as I have done in the past,” Way said.
Hathaway said he thinks the Sanders event is part of the Democratic Party’s move “toward socialism, antisemitism, anti-law enforcement.”
“I truly believe that voters in New Jersey, I don’t care if they’re Democrats, Republicans, independents, I don’t think people want that brand of representative in Washington,” he said. “People want someone who’s going to go down there and work just as hard as they are to make life a little better.”
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