Chatham councilman joins Democratic field in NJ-11

Justin Strickland, a U.S. Army veteran, ex-Pentagon official, and councilman in the Morris County borough of Chatham, is running for Congress.

Strickland is one of a large and growing number of Democrats running in the as-yet unscheduled special election to replace Mikie Sherrill, who has represented the 11th congressional district for seven years but who is soon to depart for the governor’s office. While Strickland is likely to lack the institutional support that some of his opponents will have, he says that’s not the type of campaign he’ll be running anyways.

“My campaign is all about the grassroots – it’s about regular people,” Strickland told the New Jersey Globe. “I think we are in a time in our country where we need folks who are regular people serving in Washington D.C.”

Strickland’s interest in the seat has been known for almost a year; he filed fundraising paperwork for a campaign last December, long before Sherrill had even won the Democratic primary for governor, a decision that puzzled some local Democrats. But Strickland laid low until this weekend, when he officially launched his 11th district campaign from an arts center in Madison.

After growing up “incredibly poor” in Texas, Strickland put himself through college and enlisted in the Army, serving two deployments in Iraq and earning the rank of captain. Upon departing the service, Strickland worked at the Department of Defense in a role focusing on economic development in the Middle East; he moved to Chatham in 2017.

“We didn’t have health insurance when I was a kid; we didn’t have a working car for a lot of my childhood,” Strickland said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to achieve the American Dream, from being very poor to living in Chatham Borough, but I’m worried that the American Dream is not achievable because of all the financial difficulties we face.”

With that in mind, Strickland said that economic issues will be the “cornerstone” of his campaign for Congress. His platform includes detailed and ambitious policies on student loans, child care, a public health care option, a home loan program, capital gains taxes, and more.

In 2023, Strickland ran for public office for the first time, winning a council seat in Chatham – a deep-blue town of around 9,000 people – with no primary or general election opposition. He made a move for higher office the next year, when he ran on Morris Democrats’ ticket for county commissioner, but the slate fell short by a 55%-45% margin; Democrats haven’t won a commissioner seat in Morris County in 50 years.

Strickland said he’s also been heavily involved in local activist groups in Morris County, especially in the wake of Donald Trump’s election: “If you talk to anyone about me, they’ll tell you that Justin is everywhere.” Those kinds of groups were instrumental in electing Sherrill in 2018, when the 11th district was still a swing district, and they could play a key role in the upcoming primary for Sherrill’s successor.

Since Sherrill hasn’t resigned from Congress yet, it’s still not clear when the special election to replace her will be held, uncertainty exacerbated by the fact that the legislature may be working on changes to the state’s special election laws. If things move quickly, it’s possible that the Democratic primary – likely to be the main event in the Democratic-leaning district – could come as soon as January or February.

In light of that accelerated schedule, six other Democrats have already launched campaigns for the district; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett (D-Wayne), Obama administration alum Cammie Croft, Morris Township Committeeman/former Mayor Jeff Grayzel, and activist Anna Lee Williams. Yet more candidates could be entering the race in the near future.

Gill starts out the race with a huge amount of institutional support in his home of Essex County, while Malinowski, who represented a neighboring congressional district from 2019 to 2023, has name recognition and national connections that no one else can match. Strickland’s theory of the case, though, is that frustrated voters aren’t necessarily looking for that kind of candidate – and he’s ready and waiting as an alternative.

“I think that a majority of Americans are not happy with their politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, and they’re tired of the same old talk, tired of the same old politicians,” he said. “They want leaders who are going to say, ‘I’m not going to be part of the party machine, I’m going to be the candidate that represents you.’”