Rep. Analilia Mejia | BernieCrats.com

Biography

Analilia Mejia was born around 1978 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants. Her mother worked as a seamstress, holding multiple jobs while struggling to make ends meet — until she got a union job, and everything changed. That transformation became the animating story of Mejia's life and career. She earned master's degrees in public affairs and labor relations from Rutgers University in 2003.

Mejia built her career entirely through labor and community organizing. She worked as a union organizer with SEIU, UNITE HERE, and the United Food and Commercial Workers before serving as political director of SEIU Local 32BJ. She became executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance in 2014, where she led successful campaigns for a $15 statewide minimum wage, earned sick days, and expanded voting rights for 17-year-olds — victories Jerseyans benefit from without necessarily knowing her name.

In 2019, she joined Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign as National Political Director, building the grassroots infrastructure that fueled his run. After the campaign, she served as Deputy Director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Biden, and later became co-director of the Center for Popular Democracy. She lives in Glen Ridge with her two children and has been an active participant in her local community for over a decade.

She won the February 2026 special primary in a crowded 11-candidate field — edging out former Rep. Tom Malinowski by just over 1,100 votes — then won the special general election on April 16, 2026, by a wide margin, becoming New Jersey's newest congresswoman. She is running for the full two-year term in November.

Congressional Career & 2026 Campaign

Mejia entered the race for New Jersey's 11th District when Governor Mikie Sherrill resigned her congressional seat after winning the governorship. Running as the clear progressive in a crowded field, she was boosted by endorsements from Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Elizabeth Warren — and by AIPAC's disastrous decision to spend millions attacking moderate Tom Malinowski, which inadvertently elevated Mejia as the field's progressive standard-bearer.

She won the special general election on April 16, 2026, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway, and was sworn in as congresswoman for NJ-11 — a district covering Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties. She now serves on the Homeland Security Committee and Small Business Committee. Bernie Sanders celebrated her win alongside union organizers Brian Poindexter (Ohio) and Bob Brooks (PA-7), writing: 'We're making progress!'

Running for the full two-year term in November, Mejia is favored in the Democratic-leaning district. Her platform centers on Medicare for All, a $20 federal minimum wage, tuition-free public college, abolishing ICE, and ending military aid to Israel. 'This was a race about the future of our country and the future of our party,' she said on election night. 'The voters sent a clear message: they want leaders who are unbought, unbossed, and ready to take our country back from the billionaires and MAGA extremists.'