The already-packed field to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in Congress is growing once again.
Dean Dafis, a township committeeman and former mayor of Maplewood, announced this morning that he’ll run in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district once Sherrill departs Congress. No fewer than eight other Democrats – and counting – have launched campaigns for the same seat, but Dafis starts out with a sizable voter base in his deeply progressive corner of suburban North Jersey.
“New Jersey is at the edge of a cliff,” Dafis said in his campaign announcement. “Funding for our schools, critical infrastructure investments, housing and healthcare supports – they’re all on the chopping block. Without the promised money from Washington, our state budget can’t fill these gaps. I’m going to Washington to speak truth to power, put people over process and community investment over markets, and build new and sustainable safety nets for working people.”
Dafis was raised in Philadelphia, the son of Greek immigrants whom he said fled dictatorship at home and “came to this country with little more than hope.” After earning his law degree, Dafis worked as a public defender, Big Law attorney, and marriage equality activist before eventually landing in his current position as a homelessness-focused official in the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
In 2017, Dafis ran for elected office for the first time, winning a seat on the Maplewood Township Committee. Four years later, Dafis was elevated to a two-year term as Maplewood’s mayor, a position that typically rotates among the township’s committeemembers.
Dafis’s roots in Maplewood give him deep connections in one of the state’s most politically active communities. Maplewood, along with neighboring South Orange, are both deep-blue (each gave Sherrill around 90% of the vote last week) and have a reputation as progressive activist hotbeds; local activist group SOMA Action is formidable enough that even statewide candidates court its endorsement.
But broader party support in Essex County may be more elusive; another 11th district candidate, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), entered the race with much of the county political establishment already on his side. More than half a dozen other candidates – among them former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), who represented a neighboring district until 2023 – are likely to suck up plenty of the race’s oxygen, as well.
Given that, Dafis may aim for the race’s outsider lane, which has proven increasingly viable in New Jersey as party machines have struggled to maintain their grip on power. He’s shown something of an anti-establishment streak in the past, endorsing a primary challenger to the late 10th district Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) back before Maplewood was shifted into the 11th district. (That challenger, Imani Oakley, lost in a landslide in 2022.)
If elected, Dafis would also make history as the state’s first openly gay member of Congress; that’s a milestone that neighboring New York, Delaware, and arguably Pennsylvania have all hit, but New Jersey has thus far been reluctant to even nominate LGBT candidates for congressional seats. (In Pennsylvania’s case, two former members of Congress came out as gay after leaving Washington, but weren’t out of the closet during their terms.)
Dafis said in his announcement that, in Congress, he’d work to bring down costs and fight against the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration, particularly when it comes to immigration.
“We’re a nation of immigrants, who came here for opportunity and freedom, but under Trump and MAGA, hardworking immigrants like my parents are terrorized, hunted, and detained,” Dafis said. “The aspirational beacon of hope and possibility, of a shining city on a hill has been replaced by a plutocracy filled with cruelty, division, and darkness.”
“This isn’t politics as usual. It’s personal,” he adds in his announcement video. “We the people can do this together!”