Analilia Mejia, a Democrat and community organizer, won Thursday’s special election in the 11th Congressional District and captured the House seat most recently held by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
The Associated Press called the race for Mejia over Republican Joe Hathaway, a Randolph councilman, just nine minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m.
Mejia heads to Washington, D.C., now to fill the vacancy left in the 11th District when Sherrill, a Democrat, resigned from Congress last year after winning election as governor. The vacancy will expire in January.
Mejia and Hathaway are also vying to win the district’s House seat in November, for the two-year term that begins in January. Mejia will face three other Democrats in June’s regular primary and Hathaway is running unopposed on the GOP side.
The 11th District is a collection of towns in Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. It was long held by Republicans until Sherrill flipped it for Democrats in 2018.
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