As the dust settles from this month’s high-stakes elections in New Jersey, the political landscape is already shifting once again. The 11th Congressional District, a patchwork of Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties, has become the epicenter of a brewing political storm. With Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill vacating her congressional seat after her decisive gubernatorial victory, the race to replace her is fast and furious—and not without controversy.
Outgoing Governor Phil Murphy wasted no time setting the wheels in motion. Last week, he issued a writ of election that scheduled a special election for April 16, 2026, with the primary set for February 5. That left potential candidates with a mere 10 days—much of it overlapping Thanksgiving weekend—to gather the 500 signatures required to qualify for the ballot. The deadline: December 1, 2025. According to The Federalist, this accelerated timeline has drawn sharp criticism from both Republicans and some Democrats, who allege it’s a calculated move to benefit establishment favorites.
“Governor Murphy’s rushed special-election timeline is blatant political corruption designed to protect the Democrat establishment and disenfranchise voters,” Maureen O’Toole, Eastern Regional Press Secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Federalist. O’Toole argued that the short window is meant to grease the skids for Democratic machine favorites like former Congressman Tom Malinowski, Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way, and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who enjoys Murphy’s blessing and, as reported, an endorsement from the Obama camp.
The crowded Democratic field is testament to the district’s transformation over the last decade. Once a reliable Republican stronghold, the 11th has shifted decidedly blue—Sherrill won by nearly 15 percentage points in 2024. According to NJ.com and The New York Times, more than a dozen Democrats are expected to compete for the nomination. Notable entrants include Malinowski, who lost his House seat in a neighboring district in 2022; Way, who is expected to announce her campaign imminently; Cammie Croft, a former White House staffer under President Obama; and Analilia Mejia, a progressive activist recently endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders. Local leaders from Chatham, Maplewood, and Morris Township, as well as county commissioners from Passaic and Essex, are also in the mix. On the Republican side, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway stands alone—for now.
The urgency—and, some say, the unfairness—of the timeline has already prompted legal action. Former Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello jumped into the Democratic primary and immediately filed a lawsuit against Governor Murphy. According to the New Jersey Globe, Cresitello’s suit alleges that the December 1 deadline is “arbitrary, unreasonable, and discriminatory as applied.” He argues that the compressed schedule robs non-establishment candidates of a meaningful chance to organize, mobilize volunteers, and collect signatures. “The December 1 deadline provides no meaningful transition period or opportunity for non-machine candidates to mobilize the volunteers or field operations required to collect 500 signatures,” the lawsuit states.
This isn’t the first time New Jersey’s political process has been accused of favoring insiders. As The Federalist points out, similar accusations have dogged Democratic primaries in previous years. In 2016, the Democratic National Committee faced allegations of tilting the presidential primary in favor of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders—a charge even Senator Elizabeth Warren acknowledged. In 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was criticized for publishing opposition research against its own candidate, Laura Moser, in a Texas primary, as reported by ABC News. And more recently, Illinois Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia was called out by fellow Democrats for quietly engineering his successor’s ballot access before announcing his retirement, a maneuver described by the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest as “ballot manipulation, executed out of public view to engineer a successor and shield the seat from competition.”
Such political engineering, critics argue, undermines the Democratic Party’s self-styled image as a defender of democracy. “When Democrats fear a real primary or a competitive election, they change the rules, change the timing, or clear the field,” one GOP official told The Federalist. “It’s political engineering masquerading as process, and New Jersey is their latest test case. This is what the Democratic Party looks like when it’s afraid of voters.”
Yet the current race isn’t just about political gamesmanship. The 11th District special election has also become a proxy battle over energy policy—a top concern for New Jersey voters. In an opinion piece published by NorthJersey.com, Rob Nichols, spokesman for the Alliance for Competitive Power (ACP), urged Governor-elect Sherrill not to fall for what he called “the disproven and destructive promises of utilities wanting you to reregulate New Jersey’s energy economy solely for the benefit of their shareholders.”
The ACP, representing independent energy generators supplying 8,332 megawatts to New Jersey and nearly 70,000 megawatts through the PJM market, argues that competition—not monopoly utilities—has kept electricity prices in check. Nichols cited a recent study by Energy Tariff Experts, which found that while generation costs have remained steady over the past decade, distribution and transmission costs—controlled by utilities—have surged, driving up bills. “Higher bills are largely a reflection of growing spending by local utilities on transmission and distribution systems and the costs of state policies that have pushed generation sources into early retirement and increased cost of operation for remaining thermal plants,” the study reports.
With 2,700 megawatts of approved energy projects still unbuilt in New Jersey (and less than 5% under construction), the ACP is calling for policymakers to focus on bringing those projects online and to support bipartisan efforts around nuclear energy—without forcing ratepayers to shoulder the risk. The PJM Reliability Resource Initiative’s recent announcement of 9,300 megawatts of new dispatchable generation, including over 600 megawatts from five projects in New Jersey, is cited as proof that private capital is responding to demand without the need for reregulation.
During her campaign, Sherrill laid out a comprehensive energy policy that, Nichols notes, notably excluded reregulation. “As the independent generators currently powering our state, we encourage you to keep that option off the table,” he wrote. The message is clear: let the market work, and don’t hand utilities the keys to the kingdom.
With the February 5 primary just weeks away, the race for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District is shaping up to be a microcosm of the state’s—and the nation’s—larger debates: who gets to shape the rules of democracy, and who pays the price for the policies that follow. For now, all eyes are on Trenton and the crowded field of hopefuls racing against the clock—and the machine.
The outcome of this contest will not only determine the district’s next representative, but could also set the tone for how New Jersey—and perhaps other states—handle the delicate balance between political fairness and party advantage in the years ahead.
