Joe Hathaway, a Republican running to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey in the House, offered an unusual pitch during a candidate forum ahead of Thursday’s special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
The winner of the contest between Mr. Hathaway and Analilia Mejia, the Democratic nominee, will serve for such a short period of time, he reasoned, that voters can undo their decision in November if buyer’s remorse sets in.
“All you Democrats in the room, especially, you have an opportunity to test-drive a Republican for the next six months,” he said last week on the first day of early voting. “You get to see how I handle, see how I hug the curves, see my gas mileage. Test me out.”
“And if you don’t like me,” he added, “you can bring me back in November.”
His go-for-broke appeal in a district that heavily favors Democrats seemed to encapsulate both his uphill odds and President Trump’s outsize role in the race. A decision by a pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to invest heavily in the primary also increased the volatility of the race and has intensified the debate on issues tied to the Jewish state.
There are 65,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the largely affluent and suburban district. Ms. Sherrill, a Democrat, was re-elected two years ago by nearly 15 points, giving Ms. Mejia, a left-leaning organizer, a sharp edge in the race.
A former mayor of Randolph, N.J., Mr. Hathaway has tried to distance himself from Mr. Trump, who he acknowledged will play a looming role in November’s midterm races as Democrats aim to win a majority in at least one house of Congress.
“Look, I get it, I’m pretty self-aware, right?” he said. “The general issue with our district when I talk to a lot of people is people’s points of view on the president.”
To win the Democratic nomination, Ms. Mejia narrowly beat Tom Malinowski, a former House member and the race’s early front-runner, who was battered by negative ads paid for by the United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with AIPAC. Mr. Malinowski, a longtime supporter of Israel, had criticized Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war and had refused to rule out placing conditions on that aid.
But it was Ms. Mejia, the most progressive of the 11 Democratic primary candidates and the only one to call Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza a genocide, who benefited most from the barrage of negative advertising against Mr. Malinowski. It was a result that many Jewish leaders saw as a cynical miscalculation by AIPAC.
Ms. Mejia, a leader of a left-leaning advocacy group, Popular Democracy, who helped to run Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign in 2020 and who has called for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, won the nomination by about 1,000 votes.
Ms. Mejia’s willingness to criticize Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza and her initial reluctance to make clear that she believed Israel had a right to self-determination alarmed some Jewish voters in the North Jersey district. Mr. Hathaway has suggested that her views are antisemitic, a charge she strenuously rejects.
“As a member of Congress, I would use every legislative power at my disposal to protect the rights of Jewish constituents and convene spaces to educate and to fight antisemitism, because I know it’s real,” she said during the campaign’s only debate, citing her experience as the daughter of Latino immigrants and the mother of two Black boys.
“I know how dangerous othering is,” she added. “But that doesn’t mean that we cannot call into question violations.”
The state’s top Democrats, including the governor, have rallied to her side. Last week, JStreetPAC, a liberal, pro-Israel advocacy group, also endorsed her.
“At every turn, we have seen an out-of-control president,” Ms. Sherrill said on Sunday at a rally for Ms. Mejia, who she said would be an effective “check” on Mr. Trump. Ms. Sherrill vacated the seat after winning the race for governor in November, and Thursday’s winner will serve the remaining eight months of her term.
Mr. Hathaway, a Trump supporter, has said that he would not be a “rubber stamp” for the president in Congress. He has stressed positions that put him at odds with Mr. Trump, including his opposition to converting a North Jersey warehouse into a migrant detention center and his belief that the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters should have been held “to the fullest account of the law.”
To win a full two-year term in Congress in November, candidates must compete in a June 2 primary.
Early in-person voting for the primary starts in just 39 days.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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