Analilia Mejia spent years working for the Service Employees International Union, and today it began paying off in her campaign for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district: the SEIU New Jersey State Council has endorsed Mejia to succeed Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill.
“As a fellow labor leader, with an outstanding track record, Analilia has our whole-hearted support,” SEIU NJ State Council President Megan Chambers said in a statement. “Analilia understands firsthand the struggles and aspirations of working families, and has been a non-stop champion devoted to advancing economic justice, workers’ rights, and equity for communities too often overlooked.”
According to the SEIU State Council, the union represents “over 20,000 essential workers in health care, warehouse distribution centers, industrial laundries, public services and related sectors.”
Mejia, a longtime labor and political organizer, spent four years working for SEIU, including one as the union’s assistant director of politics and policy and three as 32BJ SEIU’s political director. She also led the New Jersey Working Families Party, a progressive organization that has close ties to some of New Jersey’s most left-leaning unions like the SEIU, the Communications Workers of America, and the New Jersey Education Association.
SEIU’s endorsement represents a further splintering of union support in the 11th district, which includes a number of candidates who have deep ties to different arms of organized labor.
Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), who has the backing of most powerful Essex County Democrats, has been steadily accruing endorsements from unions representing firefighters, electrical workers, hotel employees, locomotive engineers, and more; two other Democrats in the district, Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett (D-Wayne) and former Rep. Tom Malinowski, have earned one union endorsement each as well.