Congressmember Analilia Mejia’s victory in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District Special Election shattered the playbook for what is possible for progressives nationally. With ICE agents murdering American citizens in the streets and a President launching a war of choice in Iran, Analilia’s progressive and unapologetic message resonated in a district once thought to be the epicenter of moderate Democrats. Running unabashedly on abolishing ICE, Medicaid for All, and taxing the wealthy, Analilia proved that voters in NJ-11 were hungry for real fighters who reflect their progressive values. 

New Deal Strategies (NDS) served as the General Consultant and Communication Advisors to Analilia Mejia’s successful campaign, managing every aspect of the campaign from launch day through the special general election. 

NDS led campaign strategy and day-to-day decision-making, ran coalition and endorsement operations, drove press and surrogate strategy across English- and Spanish-language outlets, and oversaw paid media & earned media. Mejia was featured in The New York Times, CNN, MS NOW, NPR, and many prominent local outlets thanks to NDS’s work.

In a 13-candidate special election primary, called in a compressed two-month timeline, Analilia entered with relatively low name recognition, no corporate PAC money, and a daunting spending disadvantage. Despite this, we won the primary by roughly 1,100 votes against a former two-term Member of Congress, a former Lieutenant Governor, and an established Essex County commissioner. In a crowded field, NDS recognized the opportunity in running a communications and field-first campaign that prioritized connecting with voters on the ground. The split field offered the Mejia campaign the opportunity to consolidate the progressive lane and expand from there. Specifically, the surge in the Latino vote was instrumental to Mejia’s win, an effort NDS was proud to spearhead.

In the end, the results were a decisive two-step victory. In the February primary, on one of the coldest days of the year in New Jersey, Analilia ran up the score in her base neighborhoods, mobilized historic levels of Latino voter participation for a primary election, expanded persuasion with women under 50, and won Election Day 2-to-1. Then, 10 weeks later, on the hottest day of the year, Analilia defeated her Republican opponent by over 20 points. She outran Kamala Harris’s 2024 district margin and Governor Sherrill’s previous win margins by 5 to 12 points. Analilia flipped the Morris County and Passaic County portions of the district. She outran each of Governor Sherrill’s wins in this district by 2 to 6 points. New Deal Strategies is proud to have run that winning campaign.