2026年4月17日 美国东部时间上午11:03 / 福克斯新闻
梅希亚在新泽西州特别选举中以《全民医保》、废除移民海关执法局（ICE）和25美元最低工资为竞选纲领
作者：保罗·施坦豪泽 福克斯新闻
民主党国会候选人安纳利莉亚·梅希亚将填补新泽西州第11选区的空缺席位，该席位因米奇·谢里尔辞职出任州长而空缺。
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曾担任工会组织者的安纳利莉亚·梅希亚得到了进步派领袖、佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯和纽约州众议员亚历山德里亚·奥卡西奥-科特兹的支持，即将就任国会议员。
梅希亚的竞选纲领强调《全民医保》、25美元时薪且首4万美元收入免税、财富税、废除ICE以及追究唐纳德·特朗普总统及其政府的责任。她在周四新泽西州第11国会选区特别选举中击败共和党候选人乔·哈撒韦，胜选优势显著。
凭借近20个百分点的胜选优势，梅希亚将填补州长米奇·谢里尔剩余8个月的任期。这位更为温和的民主党众议员于去年11月卸任国会职务，在赢得新泽西州州长选举后正式离任。
梅希亚很可能会加入由年轻、多元化的进步派众议院民主党人组成的所谓“进步党团”。她在胜选演讲中自称“国会中新潮干练的新成员”。
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此次特别选举正值共和党人岌岌可危地掌控众议院多数席位之际。共和党人本有望拿下该席位，但要翻转这个郊区选区却困难重重——谢里尔在2024年连任选举中以15个百分点优势胜出，且在去年的州长选举中也以相近优势拿下该选区。
哈撒韦曾担任伦道夫镇镇长，现任市议员，在共和党国会初选中无对手。他试图将梅希亚描绘成对该选区而言过于激进的候选人。他告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，选民的选择是“在一位务实、有常识的独立领导人与纯粹的意识形态鼓吹者之间做出抉择——前者在新泽西州地方层面切实办成了事，熟悉各项议题；后者则秉持极左翼意识形态，依靠进步党团背书的纲领参选”。
“我相信我们掌握了正确的票数，组建了正确的两党联盟，能够在4月16日赢得这场选举。”乐观的哈撒韦曾如此预测。
但哈撒韦最终差距悬殊，共和党面临的整体政治环境不利，且在野党通常会遭遇传统逆风。
这位进步派组织者赢得特别选举，获得国会入场券
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393040941112
周四晚间，梅希亚反驳了有关她是激进分子的指控。
“我的对手整场竞选都在给我贴标签，说我的想法过于激进。但我们知道，这不过是政治操控手段，符合公关专家的一贯作风，但只要睁开眼睛看，就很容易识破。”梅希亚说道，“身为全球最富裕国家之一，我们应该为民众的健康提供更多保障，这并非激进之举。”
下面让我们进一步了解梅希亚及其核心政策立场。
安纳利莉亚·梅希亚其人
梅希亚出生于新泽西州，父母是哥伦比亚和多米尼加移民。
在担任工会组织者后，梅希亚曾在2020年桑德斯总统竞选团队中担任全国政治主任。之后，她在前总统乔·拜登政府的劳工部任职。
今年2月的民主党初选中，梅希亚爆冷胜出，在11名候选人组成的参选阵容中以微弱优势击败更为温和的对手、前众议员汤姆·马利诺夫斯基。尽管梅希亚是民主党左翼的明确选择，但其他候选人瓜分了温和派和中左翼选民的选票。
除了桑德斯和奥卡西奥-科特兹的背书，梅希亚还获得了其他顶级进步派领袖的支持，包括马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦、加利福尼亚州众议员罗·卡纳、马萨诸塞州众议员阿雅娜·普雷斯利以及华盛顿州众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔——前国会进步党团主席。
进步派再次击败民主党温和派，桑德斯-奥卡西奥-科特兹盟友即将就任国会议员
梅希亚获得提名的胜利是左翼对抗建制派的又一重大胜利。此前，纽约市市长、民主社会主义者佐赫兰·曼达尼于2025年6月在民主党初选中胜出，引发全国震动。
移民政策
梅希亚多次抨击特朗普政府针对非法移民的空前打压行动，呼吁废除移民海关执法局（ICE）——这个联邦机构在本届政府大规模驱逐行动中因激进手段而备受关注。
共和党寻求突破蓝州选区，在与“社会主义者”划清界限的同时抨击对手
“我说现在就废除ICE，”梅希亚在竞选活动中说道，“它无法被改革，根本无药可救。赶紧把它撤销。”
初选胜利后，梅希亚将其归功于自己的移民立场。此前，特朗普政府在明尼苏达州发生联邦特工枪杀两名抗议移民执法行动的美国公民事件后引发强烈反弹。
“我认为，大胆无畏地说出真相至关重要，”她告诉记者，“我认为选民们希望选出真正能代表他们的议员，他们无法再容忍明尼苏达州、芝加哥、加州以及该选区境内莫里斯敦发生的那些事情。”
最高法院
和许多左翼人士一样，梅希亚强烈抨击保守派主导的最高法院的裁决。
“最高法院已被右翼激进分子掌控，他们更在意为特朗普效力，而非维护法治，”梅希亚在其竞选网站上指责道。
她支持“针对托马斯大法官和阿利托大法官的弹劾条款”，理由是他们“存在腐败行为和利益冲突”。
梅希亚还支持“对新任命的最高法院大法官设置任期限制，为所有联邦法官制定具有实际执行力的约束性道德准则”。
此外，梅希亚表示，她将支持“必要时扩充法院规模以恢复平衡”。
学生贷款债务
在竞选网站上，梅希亚宣称：“我们将取消所有学生贷款债务。”
她还承诺将“努力实现所有人在社区学院和贸易学校的学费全免”。
税收与最低工资
作为其“人人共享的经济议程”的一部分，梅希亚主张：“如果你每周工作40小时，年薪至少应该达到4万美元，且首4万美元收入不应缴纳任何联邦所得税。”
她还强调，自己曾带头推动新泽西州“赢得15美元时薪最低工资”。
“随着生活成本逐日上涨，是时候将全国最低工资标准提高到25美元每小时了，”梅希亚在竞选活动中强调。
以色列议题
马利诺夫斯基曾在前总统巴拉克·奥巴马政府中担任助理国务卿，2018年至2022年代表新泽西州北部邻近的国会选区，后连任失败。在初选前，他被视为民主党提名 race的领跑者。
但马利诺夫斯基成为了美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）附属机构投放的大量攻击广告的目标。该委员会反对马利诺夫斯基，因为他表示支持对以色列援助设置条件。
与AIPAC结盟的超级政治行动委员会“联合民主项目”斥资超过230万美元攻击马利诺夫斯基，尽管AIPAC此前曾在马利诺夫斯基过往的国会选举中支持过他。
但AIPAC的策略适得其反，因为梅希亚对以色列的态度比马利诺夫斯基更为强硬。
在今年1月的一场论坛上，当被问及是否认同人权组织指控以色列在与哈马斯的加沙战争中对巴勒斯坦人犯下种族灭绝罪时，梅希亚是所有候选人中唯一举手表示认同的人。
犹太选民是该选区选民的关键组成部分。哈撒韦在大选唯一一场辩论中声称梅希亚是反犹太主义者，指出她曾称以色列在加沙犯下种族灭绝罪。
“她将哈马斯10月7日的袭击归咎于以色列，”哈撒韦说道，“我认为该选区的犹太民众，无论共和党还是民主党，都对这种言论感到非常恐惧。”
梅希亚承诺“保护犹太选民的权利”，并表示她对以色列在加沙行动的批评不应与反犹太主义混为一谈。
在给福克斯新闻数字频道的一份声明中，梅希亚表示：“乔·哈撒韦无法区分对政府或政府官员的批评与偏执，这既令人不安又令人作呕，两者程度不相上下。”
梅希亚上周表示，在得到自由派亲以色列政治团体J Street PAC的背书后，她“深感荣幸”。但她接受该背书的举动引发了左翼的反对，北新泽西州民主社会主义者组织称其举动是“背叛”。
哈撒韦告诉福克斯新闻数字频道：“我接触过的犹太社区成员中，有很多人这辈子从未投过共和党人的票，但这次会投给我。这足以说明犹太社区对这场选举的重视程度，以及他们为何不认同梅希亚……及其竞选纲领。”
看起来哈撒韦说对了：几个犹太人口密集的城镇在周四的选举中大幅转向右翼。
但这远远不足以帮助哈撒韦抵消梅希亚整体的支持优势。
保罗·施坦豪泽是驻新罕布什尔州摇摆州的政治记者，全程报道各地竞选活动。
Meet Analilia Mejia, the Sanders-AOC backed progressive who just won election to Congress
April 17, 2026 11:03am EDT / Fox News
Mejia ran on Medicare for All, abolishing ICE and a $25 minimum wage in the New Jersey special election
By Paul Steinhauser Fox News
Democratic congressional candidate Analilia Mejia was running to fill the seat in New Jersey’s 11th District that was left vacant when Mikie Sherrill stepped down to become governor.
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Analilia Mejia, a one-time labor organizer backed by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, is headed to Congress.
Mejia, running on a platform that emphasized Medicare for All, a $25 minimum wage with the first $40,000 tax-free, a wealth tax, abolishing ICE and holding President Donald Trump and his administration accountable, convincingly defeated Republican candidate Joe Hathaway in Thursday’s special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
With her nearly 20-point victory, Mejia will fill the final eight months of the term of Gov. Mikie Sherrill, the more moderate Democratic representative who stepped down from Congress in November after winning New Jersey’s gubernatorial election.
Mejia, who is likely to align herself with the so-called “Squad” of younger, diverse and progressive House Democrats, called herself the “sassy new member of Congress” in her victory speech.
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Analilia Mejia smiles as she gestures to supporters after winning New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District special election, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Montclair, N.J.(Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)
The special election came as the GOP clings to a fragile House majority. Republicans would have relished the opportunity to pick up the seat, but they faced a steep uphill climb to flip the suburban district Sherrill won by 15 points in her 2024 re-election and carried by roughly the same margin in last year’s gubernatorial election.
Hathaway, a former Randolph Township mayor and current council member who was unopposed for the GOP congressional nomination, aimed to paint Mejia as too far to the left for the district. He told Fox News Digital the choice for voters was “between a common sense, practical independent leader who’s gotten things done at the local level in New Jersey and knows the issues, contrasted with someone who’s running on pure ideology, far left-wing ideology, Squad-backed ideology.”
“I think we have the right math, the right bipartisan coalition to come together to win this thing on April 16,” an optimistic Hathaway predicted.
But Hathaway came up far short, given the rough political climate facing Republicans and the traditional headwinds for the party in power.
THIS PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZER WINS SPECIAL ELECTION, EARNING TICKET TO CONGRESS
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393040941112
Mejia, on Thursday night, pushed back against the claims she’s a radical.
“My opponent has spent his whole campaign calling me names and saying my ideas are too radical. But we know, that is a mind trick, on brand for a spin doctor, but easily countered if you just open your eyes,” Mejia said. “It is not radical to say that one of the wealthiest nations in the world should do more to protect the health of its people.”
Here’s a closer look at Mejia and where she stands on the issues.
Who is Analilia Mejia
Mejia was born in New Jersey and is the daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants.
After working as a union organizer, Mejia served as national political director on the 2020 Sanders presidential campaign. She later worked in the Department of Labor in former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mejia pulled off an upset in the February Democratic primary, narrowly edging out a more moderate rival, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, in a field of 11 candidates. While Mejia was the clear choice of the party’s left flank, the rest of the field divided the moderate and center-left vote.
Besides the backing of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Mejia was also endorsed by other top progressive leaders, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Reps. Ro Khanna of California, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
PROGRESSIVES NOTCH ANOTHER WIN OVER DEMOCRATIC MODERATES AS SANDERS-AOC ALLY NEARS CONGRESS
Analilia Mejia secured the Democratic Party nomination in a special election to find out who will take over newly-elected New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacant House seat.(Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Mejia’s nomination victory was another big boost for the left against the establishment since now-New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, sent shock waves across the nation with his Democratic primary victory in June 2025.
Immigration
Mejia repeatedly took aim at Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration and called for scrapping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency most visible in the aggressive tactics used in the administration’s massive deportation effort.
REPUBLICAN SEEKS BLUE-STATE BREAKTHROUGH, DISTANCES FROM TRUMP WHILE TAKING AIM AT ‘SOCIALIST’
“I say abolish ICE now,” Mejia said on the campaign trail. “You can’t reform it. It’s not fixable. Get it out.”
After her primary victory, Mejia gave credit to her stance on immigration in the wake of backlash against the Trump administration following the January fatal shootings in Minnesota by federal agents of two U.S. citizens protesting immigration operations.
” I think the fact that I was bold and unafraid to speak the truth was incredibly important,” she told reporters. “I think voters feel that they want to have a representative that actually represents them, and they cannot watch what’s happening in Minnesota, what happened in Chicago, what happened in California, what happened in Morristown across this district.”
Supreme Court
Mejia, like many on the left, has railed against rulings by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court has been captured by right-wing radicals who care more about doing Trump’s bidding than the rule of law,” Mejia charged on her campaign website.
She supported “articles of impeachment against Justices Thomas and Alito” for what she says is “their corruption and conflicts of interest.”
Campaign signs for Republican candidate Joe Hathaway and Democrat Analilia Mejia in the NJ-11 special congressional election, in Randolph, New Jersey on April 13, 2026(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Mejia also backed “term limits for newly appointed Supreme Court justices, a binding code of ethics with real enforcement for all federal judges.”
And Mejia said she would support “expanding the courts if necessary to restore balance.”
Student Loan Debt
On her campaign website, Mejia stated, “We’re going to cancel all student loan debt.”
And she pledges that she’ll “fight to make college tuition free at community colleges and trade schools for everyone.”
Taxes and Minimum Wage
As part of her”economy for everyone agenda,” Mejia argued, “If you work 40 hours a week, you should make at least $40,000 a year, and you shouldn’t pay a dime in federal taxes on that first $40,000.”
And she highlighted that she helped lead the fight in New Jersey to “win the $15 minimum wage.”
“With the cost of living rising every day, it’s time to raise the minimum wage at the national level to $25/hour,” Mejia emphasized on the campaign trail.
Israel
Malinowski, an assistant secretary of state in former President Barack Obama’s administration who later represented a neighboring congressional district in northern New Jersey from 2018 to 2022 before losing re-election, was considered the front-runner in the Democratic nomination race heading into primary day.
But Malinowski was the target of a slew of attack ads put out by a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which opposed Malinowski because he said he supports conditions on aid to Israel.
The AIPAC-aligned super PAC United Democracy Project dished out more than $2.3 million to take aim at Malinowski, even though AIPAC had previously supported Malinowski in his past congressional elections.
Jan 15, 2026; Caldwell, NJ, USA; Tom Malinowski during a meet and greet hosted by The League of Women Voters at Caldwell University with the candidates running for the Democratic nomination to fill the Congressional seat vacated by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.(Michael Karas/USA TODAY NETWORK)
But the AIPAC strategy backfired, because Mejia is much tougher on Israel than Malinowski.
Mejia was the only candidate in the race who raised her hand at a forum in January when asked if they agreed with human rights groups who charge Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in its war with Hamas in Gaza.
Jewish voters make up a key part of the district’s electorate, and Hathaway, in the only debate in the general election, claimed Mejia was antisemitic, noting she has said Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
“She blamed Israel for the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7,” Hathaway said. “I think Jewish individuals across this district, Republican or Democrat, are very afraid of this kind of rhetoric.”
Mejia pledged to “protect the rights of Jewish constituents” and said her criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza should not be conflated with antisemitism.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Mejia said, “Joe Hathaway’s inability to distinguish between criticism of a government or government official and bigotry is troubling and disgusting in equal measure.”
Mejia last week wrote that she was “honored” after being endorsed by the liberal pro-Israel political group J Street PAC. But her acceptance of the endorsement triggered pushback on the left, with the North Jersey Democratic Socialists of America calling her move a “heel turn.”
Hathaway told Fox News Digital, “I’ve spoken to more members of the Jewish community who have told me they’ve never voted for a Republican in their life, who are going to vote for me in this race. I mean, that shows you where the Jewish community is on the importance of this race and how they are not aligned with Mejia … and her platform.”
It appears Hathaway was right: Some towns with heavy Jewish populations swung significantly to the right in Thursday’s election.
But it wasn’t nearly enough to help Hathaway blunt Mejia’s overall support.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.