2026 Special Election Primary - THURSDAY February 5th

View prior voter guides: 2024 Primary, 2024 General, 2025 Primary, 2025 General

SOMA Action is a grassroots organization in South Orange and Maplewood NJ focused on driving progressive change. We are unabashedly progressive and seek to provide useful and transparent information about the issues affecting our towns. Below please find information on the candidates appearing on the 2026 Special Primary ballot.

If you are a candidate wishing to correct an error/omission or provide links to more information, please contact info@somaaction.org or submit information to our google form.

Note: The main writer of the voter guide, Erika Malinoski (no ”w”), is no relation to Tom Malinowski.

Election Schedule

Now that our U.S. Representative has been elected Governor, it will take four elections to fill her seat.

  • Special election primary - THURSDAY, February 5

  • Special election general - THURSDAY, April 16

  • Regular election primary - Tuesday, June 2

  • Regular election general - Tuesday, November 3

It is absolutely critical to vote in ALL FOUR elections! Once an incumbent is established in a (relatively) safe district, they are difficult to unseat. This is potentially our main opportunity for the next decade (or more) to pick a representative we will be happy with.

We highly recommend registering to vote by mail to make sure not to miss an election! If you live in SOMA or Essex County, simply print, fill out, and mail this form by January 29th. (See here for Morris and Passaic Counties.)

How to Vote in the Special Primary

Register to vote by January 15th!
Check your voter registration and register to vote at https://nj.gov/state/elections/voter-registration.shtml

Ways to Vote

  1. Vote by Mail: If you do not already receive a vote by mail ballot, you may request one by printing this form and returning it to the County Clerk by January 29th. Once you have filled out your ballot, you may drop it off in any drop box (one is located in the South Orange Gazebo by the train station and another at the Hilton Library Branch in Maplewood) or mail it. Due to changes in USPS postmarking policies, voters are strongly encouraged to use the drop boxes. Mail ballots must be postmarked by 8 pm on Election Day, but ballots may not be postmarked the day they are mailed.

  2. Vote Early In Person: Early In Person voting will be available Thursday, January 29th through Tuesday, February 3rd. Look here for polling locations and hours. They are NOT the same as your election day polling place and may not be the same as your normal early voting location.

  3. Vote on Election Day: Find your polling place here. Polls will be open from 6 am - 8 pm on election day (THURSDAY, February 5th).

Basic Information

  • Competitive race between twelve candidates: Zach Beecher, John Bartlett, J-L Cauvin, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Brendan Gill, Jeff Grayzel, Analilia Mejía, Tom Malinowski, Justin Strickland, Tahesha Way, and Anna Lee Williams.

    Representatives to the U.S. House are elected every two years and serve as one of 435 voting members of the House of Representatives. They help craft legislation, vote on laws and the federal budget, hold hearings, and provide oversight of federal agencies. Laws and budgets are supposed to be passed by both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, then signed into law by the President, at which point government agencies are supposed to spend the money and execute their duties as specified. 

    Currently, that process has broken down. Republicans, who control both the House and Senate, have given President Trump the power to spend money, refuse to spend money, and direct federal agency actions however he wants. Whether Congress chooses to take back its power over the next few years will determine whether our elected representatives continue to have meaningful power, or whether the United States is ruled by a single, king-like figure.

  • Coverage or events with multiple candidates:

    Information about individual candidates is listed below in order of the number of petition signatures they filed to get on the ballot.

    Brendan Gill

    Essex County Commissioner, Chair of the Montclair Dems., President & CEO of the BGill Group lobbying firm. Managed Gov. Murphy’s 2017 campaign.

    Analilia Mejía

    Co-Director of the Center for Popular Democracy, former national political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, former director of New Jersey Working Families.

    Tom Malinowski

    Former Congressman for the 7th Congressional District; Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor under Obama; currently Hunterdon County Democratic Chairman.

    Tahesha Way

    Lieutenant Governor

    Justin Strickland

    Chatham Councilman, worked at the Department of Defense on economic development in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Army veteran.

    Anna Williams

    Community activist

    Jeff Grayzel

    Morris Township Deputy Mayor and former Mayor.

    Zach Beecher

    Venture capitalist, former Army paratrooper.

    John Bartlett

    Passaic County Commissioner.


    Cammie Croft

    Former Deputy New Media Director for Obama. Most recently worked for Rewiring America.

    Dean Dafis

    Former Mayor of Maplewood, current Maplewood Township Committeeman

    J-L Cauvin

    Attorney, comedian 

    The following candidates have dropped out:

    Marc Chaaban

    Former staffer for Mikie Sherrill

How Can I Tell Which Candidates Have a Chance?

  • Generally speaking, candidates need some combination of the following to win:

    • Boots on the ground to get out the vote. This can include support from organizations with significant GOTV operations such as: state, county, and local political parties; unions; and grassroots groups. It can also include inspiring an unusually large number of enthusiastic volunteers or having enough money for a large campaign staff.

    • Positive name recognition. This can come from: having held prominent political office or being otherwise famous, having enough money to buy ads/mailers, earned media coverage, or going viral on social media.

    • Popular proposals that stand out from the crowd and that people know about.

    • Being recommended by people a voter trusts.

    Since New Jersey does not have Ranked Choice Voting, voters sometimes choose to vote strategically, balancing how much they like candidates against how likely they think candidates are to win. However, determining who has a realistic chance of winning is difficult, especially in special elections. The metrics below provide some insight (albeit a highly imperfect one) into which candidates have been gaining traction.

  • In New Jersey, candidates have to get petition signatures to get on the ballot. Number of petition signatures submitted is an early (though not entirely predictive) test of a candidate’s ability to get out the vote and inspire volunteers. Here is how many signatures each candidate received:

    • Brendan Gill - 1700

    • Analilia Mejía - 1509

    • Tom Malinowski - 1501

    • Tahesha Way - 1280

    • Justin Strickland - 1110

    • Anna Lee Williams - 1089

    • Jeff Grayzel - 1042

    • Zach Beecher - 999

    • John Bartlett - 990

    • Cammie Croft - 948

    • Marc Chaaban - 849

    • Dean Dafis - 719

    • J-L Cauvin - 619

  • [Last updated 12/18/2025]

    The 11th Congressional District covers parts of Morris and Essex County, plus a small part of Passaic County (map). In the last Democratic primary, Morris and Essex delivered similar numbers of votes (p. 16) with Passaic a distant third.

    Morris County Democratic Committee

    Morris County has one of the (if not the) most small-d democratic conventions in New Jersey. District leaders (two of whom have been elected for each voting district) use Ranked Choice Voting via a secret ballot to select who gets the endorsement. For the special election, committee leaders prioritized giving district leaders more time to learn about candidates even though that meant that the endorsement wouldn’t be finalized in time for the winning candidate to use it as their slogan on the ballot. The nine-member screening committee conducted interviews, then rated candidates on policy know-how, commitment to and understanding of local issues, and the ability to run strong campaigns. Tom Malinowski won the endorsement, earning a plurality on the first ballot (41% to Brendan Gill’s 24%), and consolidating majority support on the 9th ballot (53%). Runners up were Brendan Gill (29%) and Analilia Mejía (18%). This endorsement should reflect the enthusiasm of rank and file party members who then have a strong get out the vote operation.  

    Essex County Democratic Committee

    Historically, the ECDC endorsement has been decided by party leaders, whose preferred candidate then received preferred placement on the ballot that essentially guaranteed their victory in Essex County and led other candidates to bow out of the race entirely. This started changing in 2024 with the fall of the County Line for primaries and a shift to the ECDC using a secret ballot vote by district leaders to decide endorsements, but it is not yet clear how much power party leaders will attempt to retain over the process. Leadership’s decision to schedule the endorsement convention on December 2nd in order to meet deadlines for adding slogans to ballots prompted an outcry from district leaders about not having enough time to learn about the candidates (disclaimer: several of the voter guide writers signed onto the letter, including Erika, the main writer) and concerns that party leaders were rushing the process to advantage the candidate many county party leaders had already lined up behind. Essex district leaders ultimately voted to endorse Brendan Gill, but only after a vote to delay the convention failed narrowly. Gill won with 132 votes, with 90 committee members voting to abstain (regarded as a vote to not endorse) and other candidates receiving 36 votes. Other than Gill, it is unclear what the results mean in terms of which candidates will get GOTV support from district leaders. Mejía initiated the organizing campaign to encourage abstentions, but Mejía, Dafis, and Beecher all urged their supporters to abstain. Malinowski did not encourage abstentions and received the next most number of votes with seventeen. 

    Passaic County Democratic Organization

    Relatively few NJ-11th voters are in Passaic county, and unlike in the other two counties, Passaic County district leaders do not get to vote on the endorsement. Instead a screening committee chose to award the endorsement to the two candidates from Passaic County, Tahesha Way and JohnBartlett.

    Unions

    Unions are major sources of volunteers to get out the vote. Because endorsements are being continuously updated, please see the race’s Wikipedia page for the most current list. For progressives, endorsements by the SEIU, CWA, and Rutgers unions are particularly noteworthy. The SEIU and Rutgers endorsements went to Analilia Mejía, and CWA Local endorsements have gone to Analilia Mejía and Brendan Gill. As of this writing, Brendan Gill has numerous additional union endorsements, and Tom Malinowski, John Bartlett, and Zach Beecher also have at least one.

    Major NJ Progressive Groups

    Working Families Party, one of the state’s leading progressive organizations, endorsed its former Executive Director, Analilia Mejía. Make the Road NJ, which organizes immigrant and working class communities and does extensive GOTV, also endorsed Analilia Mejía.  Major progressive organization NJ Citizen Action also endorsed Analilia Mejía.

    Indivisible and Other Grassroots Groups

    NJ-11th is home to several Indivisible groups (including SOMA Action) as well as other grassroots groups. Most appear to be staying out of endorsing in the special election primary, either due to group policies of neutrality, not having enough time to run an endorsement process, or internal splits over whom to support.

    Additional Groups

    The Congressional Progressive Caucus endorsed Analilia Mejía. The Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Tahehsa Way. The Democratic Lt. Governors Association endorsed Tahesha Way and is running an independent expenditure campaign to support her.

    Notable Political Figures*

    While endorsements by high profile political figures do not themselves necessarily get out the vote, they can steer supporters toward a chosen candidate, especially in low information races. Brendan Gill has by far the most endorsements, including that of Governor Phil Murphy. Notable progressive endorsers are: Sen. Andy Kim (endorsing Tom Malinowski), Sen. Bernie Sanders (endorsing Analilia Mejía), and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (endorsing Analilia Mejía). Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill has said she will not be endorsing. 

    *Note: While there are many political figures, the ones listed here are the ones who have appeared on our ballots and whom voters might have formed an opinion about. Please check Wikipedia for the most up-to-date list of all endorsements.

  • Campaign Q4 financial disclosures are due Jan 15th and will be updated then.

  • Polling in special elections is extremely difficult and should be interpreted with significant caution. Polls available in this race:

    • Internal poll from Malinowski’s campaign conducted Nov 19-23 (before candidates had had a chance to campaign).

Evaluations

  • SOMA Action is a proudly progressive grassroots organization. While we seek to fairly evaluate all candidates, our mission is to drive progressive change, and we evaluate candidates based on how likely they are to be supportive partners on the initiatives our committees are working on.

    Starting in September, we took an inventory of what our committees have actively worked on and synthesized that work into eleven criteria for what SOMA Action is looking for in candidates. This list is restricted to areas where our committees have done at least as much work as we would be asking candidates to do. That means there are some important areas that are not covered (particularly foreign policy), and we urge readers to consider what their own criteria are and how closely they align with what we list below.

    Based on those criteria, we developed a standardized set of interview questions that we asked all twelve candidates. These interviews have been recorded and posted unedited for voters to evaluate for themselves. Early interviews were made public before all had been completed, so it is possible that later candidates saw the questions. However, we saw no indication of that in how prepared later interviewees were to answer well. Many thanks to the interviewing team: Co-President Erika Malinoski (no relation to Tom Malinowski), Co-President Allison Posner, Executive Committee member Stan Varon, Executive Committee Member and Social and Racial Justice Chair Barbara Velazquez, and Democracy Action Committee Co-chair Valyrie Laedlein.

    We then transcribed the interviews using a combination of YouTube’s auto-transcribe feature plus manual cleaning, including removing “ums” and verbal tics as well as punctuating for clarity. Attempts to use Gemini AI to assist resulted in too extreme of changes and should have all been taken back out. Many, many thanks to the transcription team: Erika Malinoski, John Lauder, Stan Varon, Becky Morrison, and Valyrie Laedlein. Any errors are unintentional. Please reach out to info@somaaction.org if there is a significant error. Erika then sorted the transcript responses into each candidate’s tab in the spreadsheet for the criteria they were relevant to.

    Also included in the tabs for each candidate is any relevant information from their website as well as information from press reports and a few instances where candidates submitted additional information via private correspondence. Submissions for information about candidates (websites, biographical information, press reports, scandal tips, endorsements) were open to anyone, including candidates and their campaigns, as long as they disclosed their affiliations. Any information (other than direct questions answered by candidates, which are marked as coming from private correspondence) had to be publicly verified to be included in the evidence documents. We also checked against an AI search of candidate records to see if there were any leads on additional things we missed. Thank you so much to the research team! Research support was provided by Sean Bailey, Deb Alessandro, Kathy Azaro, and Megan Marques.

    In past voter guides, our committees have reviewed the available evidence in order to give overall evaluations of how well candidates did on each criterion. This proved to be too big a lift for twelve candidates across eleven criteria and two sets of holidays. Instead, Erika focused on summarizing the resulting approximately 250 pages of compiled information into overview tables by answering sets of much more narrowly focused questions (see spreadsheets in the next section). In the tables, the candidates were listed in order of how many petition signatures they collected when qualifying for the ballot (Numbers are listed in the prior section). This felt like a fair, early test of how realistic of a chance candidates have to successfully compete for the nomination. All candidates received petitions at the same time and were equally impacted by needing to collect signatures over the holidays. How strong of an existing network candidates had to tap into to collect signatures on short notice is relevant to their ability to win a race on a compressed timeframe. 

    Many of the questions asked and answered in the tables are factual questions (e.g. did candidates meet the filing deadline for their personal financial reports?). Others are more subjective (e.g. was a candidate’s response in-depth or superficial?). To the extent that the summaries in the table are judgement calls, they are primarily Erika’s best call made based on deep familiarity with our committees’ work and on reviewing twelve hours of interviews, plus websites and news reports. People from several committees, including LGBTQIA+, Climate, Reimagining Safety, and Trustees had some capacity to check and provide feedback on the approximate 600 evaluations in the tables, but the review process was less robust than it has been when we have had more time and fewer holidays.

    In order to make the still enormous amount of information intelligible, Erika color coded where possible to indicate alignment with what evaluators for the category would ideally like to see. Green indicates alignment, pink lack of alignment, and yellow mixed alignment. When interpreting results, voters should first determine the extent to which they agree with the overall criteria. Pink may be good in some instances. Undoubtedly, some judgment calls are open to debate. Please feel free to use the available evidence (helpfully compiled on each candidate’s tab) to come to and defend your own conclusions. We strongly encourage other other groups and individuals to take their own stab at putting forward fair, useful, and comprehensive comparisons of candidates. 

    One final note: During the interview process, Erika noticed strong differentiation in candidates’ tendencies to give big picture, future oriented answers versus focusing on the concrete here-and-now. This is a known personality type difference (Myers-Briggs “N” vs. “S,” specifically) that is a common source of miscommunication and friction in workplaces. When evaluating candidates, there may also be value in taking into account some of the numerous resources about what excellent leadership looks like for different personality styles.

  • Effectiveness

    U.S. Representatives are one of 435 voting members of one house of Congress. They have the power to shape legislation, conduct oversight, influence public opinion, and build coalitions both inside and outside of government, but that power has limits. SOMA Action is looking for candidates who have a realistic understanding of the parameters of the job and who have demonstrated skills that are likely to make them effective members of Congress.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Effectiveness|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z4f9daofKnCZ61LFl4BX6EKjIYimuSh_SLmaleoEUp0/edit?gid=946517138#gid=946517138

    High Ethical Standards

    Citizens entrust political leaders with power so they can use it for the public good, not for personal gain. SOMA Action is looking for candidates who hold themselves and those around them to the highest standards of responsible public service, promptly correct any ethical lapses, and put safeguards in place to prevent such lapses from happening again. We never want to be in a Bob “Gold Bars” Menendez situation ever again.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Ethics|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Epj-FbmssYSqYu9-SZ7mXuGu3vDoeQ0po-5iuZAsmCA/edit?gid=0#gid=0

    Independence

    Political bosses and large donors often seek to create relationships with elected officials such that office holders prioritize donor/boss interests above those of their constituents. This can arise from politicians wanting to do favors for their friends or from feeling unable to say “no” without risking their career and/or personal financial stability. SOMA Action is looking for candidates who are free to prioritize the needs of their constituents and have structured their relationships with donors and political bosses such that there is minimal risk of coercion and conflict of interest.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Independence|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UQoLDbVzrV1l_BWHTQZONO1YeF1aM4Y8y8p4hb-RRBo/edit?gid=663922449#gid=663922449

    Countering Authoritarianism

    Donald Trump is attempting to consolidate unprecedented power and remove all the constraints that prevent him from directing the United States’ financial and military power purely based on his own whims. Playing “politics as usual,” as the current Democratic leadership has done, has not effectively restrained him. SOMA Action is looking for candidates who will do a good job helping lead a creative, non-violent, mass movement to counter ongoing attempts to consolidate authoritarian rule. This particularly includes stopping ICE and other government agents from kidnapping and disappearing people. It also includes support for reforms that strengthen democracy.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Countering Authoritarianism|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G2MUCzLQZrKzkk6gOHmpVDd7RnrzXIddBdwncJq2nMo/edit?gid=201152763#gid=201152763

    Bold Vision for Economic Equality

    Our country has been vulnerable to Donald Trump’s attacks in part because decades of policies have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few while ordinary people become less and less able to meet their basic needs (see UN special report). Going back to the status quo ante will not be adequate. SOMA Action is looking for candidates whose vision for rebuilding a more economically just America is on the scale of the New Deal. Specifically, we are looking for candidates who consistently advocate for policies that ensure everyone’s basic needs are met, spread wealth broadly, and block attempts to further concentrate it. A critical part of this is being able to spot and counter the ways that narratives about who is “deserving” (especially narratives based on racism, ableism, sexism, transphobia, criminalization, etc.) are used to prevent everyone from having nice things.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Economic Equality|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f_lDgtJ5_JCgHtj--IrBJnHcn8rCBQoQvcvd1wl_h8Y/edit?gid=219122153#gid=219122153

    Creating Genuine Safety

    Whipping up fear in order to justify violence and coercion is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook. In order to neutralize it, we have to do more than tell people they shouldn’t be afraid. We have to persuade people that segregation, deportation, incarceration, and violence are not effective tools to keep them safe. (See resources here, here, and here). SOMA Action is looking for candidates who can create real safety in our communities by addressing the underlying drivers of violence and strengthening communities’ ability to repair harm. A crucial part of this includes blocking attempts to justify harm against immigrants, trans people, people of color, and other vulnerable groups in the name of “safety.”

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Reimagining Safety|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RzX9szpx-_aptMBlb5cDDj7wh6JjdjFOZcJPrP9bGpg/edit?gid=182077343#gid=182077343

    Healthcare

    Pregnancy, puberty, illness, and injury all have profound, long-term impacts on our bodies. Medical advances in vaccines, preventative care, contraceptives, abortion methods, chronic health condition management, gender affirming care, emergency room care, pharmaceuticals, surgeries, and many other types of treatment have opened up deeply longed for options for people to be able to have choices about what happens to their body on the most intimate level. However, the Trump administration is taking away access to these options by banning them, making them unavailable, or putting them financially out of reach. SOMA Action is looking for candidates who will help ensure that everyone has access to a full range of safe and effective treatment options when making decisions about their body.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Healthcare|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kccOnKJ4ntjLM_Pg8XGr8wJEUUXA5tIpQheg9zyGRKg/edit?gid=1766802500#gid=1766802500

    Climate

    SOMA Action is looking for candidates who recognize that climate change is an existential crisis and who will prioritize funding and regulation to mitigate it. This includes supporting clean energy, public transit and other non-car-based transportation, smart green infrastructure for flood mitigation, and making electrification accessible.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Climate|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RIGpSyeIFCQnhG3bcR-oLxqjEIu74F8emsDO0ULIIhQ/edit?gid=706078982#gid=706078982

    Immigration

    SOMA Action is looking for candidates who will consistently support immigrants’ ability to meet their basic needs, live free from fear of being kidnapped, and be free from economic or other exploitation. 

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|Immigration|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wQaPUNOZRebBAsXCMnMEJ_dAw1kdsDCMG_7-gYHvk5c/edit?gid=556675994#gid=556675994

    LGBTQIA+

    SOMA Action is looking for candidates who will consistently support trans and other LGBTQIA+ people’s right to make their own decisions about their identities, bodies, and lives. This includes speaking up publicly; meeting with members of the community to hear about their needs; and effectively advocating for gender affirming care to be legal, accessible, and affordable.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|LGBTQIA+|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Nrxy057V51_MuWAFf4ydhawecTTITrWFCFCQlnSQzs/edit?gid=15770281#gid=15770281

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    SOMA Action is looking for candidates who are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In particular, this includes protecting marginalized groups from the Trump administration’s attempts to resegregate public life and promote discrimination and targeting of marginalized groups.

    Click on the image below to explore the ratings and information for each candidate.

    image|DEI|https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JFxUwE0vpEV4twYymi9O7bhNd0xJAou390WPqQtZyZI/edit?gid=121685778#gid=121685778

  • This election, SOMA Action did not do overall evaluations for the candidates. However, the following interactive tool is available to allow you to filter our summaries based on whichever criteria are most important to you.

    Click here to explore a copy of all ratings.