Sixth-place finisher in NJ-11 special primary will challenge Mejia again

Justin Strickland, a councilman in Chatham Borough whose special election campaign for the 11th congressional district earned him sixth place and 2% of the Democratic primary vote, is running again.

Strickland, who had not given any prior indication of his plans, submitted his 11th district petitions earlier today, just a few hours before the filing deadline. His decision to enter the June primary will pit him against Analilia Mejia, the winner of the February special primary and likely the district’s next congresswoman.

“71% of Democrats who voted in the special primary in February chose other candidates who didn’t win,” Strickland said in a statement shared with the New Jersey Globe. “Those voters and all who plan to vote in the regular cycle primary deserve to have a choice on Election Day. This is what democracy looks like. I filed to run for Congress to give voters a choice on June 2 and I ask voters to give me another look.”

In the wake of Mejia’s surprise February victory, there was plenty of chatter about whether a more moderate Democrat would take her on in the primary election for a full term. Former Lieutenant Gov. Tahesha Way, the special primary’s third-place finisher, spent more than a month mulling it over before announcing yesterday that she wouldn’t run; Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Livingston) briefly considered a campaign of her own but decided against it.

Strickland, who wasn’t widely known before his special election bid, was not as much a part of that discussion. A U.S. Army veteran and former Department of Defense official, Strickland was first elected to the Chatham Borough Council in 2023, and was a Democratic nominee for Morris County commissioner a year later.

His campaign to succeed Gov. Mikie Sherrill in the 11th district beat some expectations; Strickland marshaled a committed group of volunteers to push him into sixth place out of 11, beating several Democrats who started out the race with far more money or name recognition. But the campaign was also plagued with issues, raising the second-smallest amount of anyone in the race and filing pre-primary fundraising reports more than a week late.

Strickland’s seat on the borough council in Chatham is up for election this year. Lacking clarity about what Strickland intended to do, local Democrats recruited another candidate to succeed him.

One other Democrat, Montville tech engineer Joseph Lewis, has also filed to run against Mejia; he did not run in the special primary election and has attracted little attention since launching his campaign in January.

Mejia, for her part, has overwhelmingly consolidated New Jersey Democrats behind her campaign, winning the support of the 11th district’s three county Democratic organizations (none of which endorsed her in the special primary) and all but one of the state’s Democratic members of Congress. She’ll face GOP nominee Joe Hathaway in the April 16 special general election, an election she’s favored to win.