The race for a full two-year term will include Morristown and dozens of communities across Morris, Essex and Passaic counties, with former Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello among the Democratic challengers defeated Tuesday.

MORRISTOWN, NJ – U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia won the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District on Tuesday, setting up a Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, general-election rematch with Republican Joe Hathaway, according to Associated Press race calls reported by Morristown Green and Patch. The contest is the federal race that includes Morristown, but its boundaries stretch across parts of Morris, Essex and Passaic counties, making November’s election a district-wide race with direct local relevance.

The AP called the Democratic race for Mejia at 8:14 p.m., 14 minutes after polls closed. Patch reported uncertified totals with 88% counted showing Mejia with 46,917 votes, or 81.5%. Donald Cresitello had 3,977 votes, Justin Strickland had 3,554, and Joseph B. Lewis II had 3,124, according to Patch’s election coverage.

Hathaway, a Randolph councilman and former mayor, was unopposed in the Republican primary. The New Jersey Division of Elections’ official primary candidate list identified Hathaway as the only Republican candidate in the 11th District primary and listed Cresitello, Lewis, Mejia and Strickland as the Democratic field.

Cresitello’s candidacy gave the race a Morristown connection beyond the district boundaries. The former Morristown mayor was listed by the state with a Morristown address, while Mejia’s victory makes the November contest less a local municipal story than a federal race in which Morristown voters are part of a larger district electorate.

The 11th District includes Morristown Town, Morris Township, Morris Plains, Madison, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Randolph and other Morris County municipalities, along with communities in Essex and Passaic counties. Patch’s district list also includes Belleville, Bloomfield, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, South Orange, Totowa, Woodland Park, part of Wayne and other municipalities.

Tuesday’s result follows an unusual election year for NJ-11. Mejia and Hathaway already faced each other in an April 16, 2026, special general election to fill the House seat vacated by Mikie Sherrill, who resigned after being elected governor. Official state results from that special election show Mejia received 81,825 votes, Hathaway received 53,520, and independent candidate Alan B. Bond received 625, with 135,970 votes cast.

Mejia was sworn into the House on April 20, 2026, to serve the remainder of Sherrill’s term. The November general election will determine who holds the seat for the next full two-year term beginning in January.

Mejia is a labor organizer and progressive activist who previously led the New Jersey Working Families Alliance and later served in the U.S. Department of Labor. Her campaign has supported higher taxes on wealth, Medicare for All, a $25 federal minimum wage, stronger labor protections and campaign finance reform.

Hathaway’s campaign website presents him as a “common-sense” Republican focused on affordability, taxes, public safety, transportation and fiscal policy. His listed platform includes first-time homebuyer tax relief, vocational and technical training, a larger child tax credit, health care price transparency, support for the Gateway Tunnel project and “all-of-the-above” energy policies.

Speaking to supporters at a victory gathering in Morristown, Mejia framed the next phase of the campaign as both electoral and organizational.

“We have to ensure that we’re not only just winning elections, but we’re bringing people back. Bringing people back into deeper engagements so that we can actually save our democracy in such a critical moment,” Mejia told supporters at a vistory party at The Famished Frog. “Let’s take a break for approximately 36 hours, and then let’s start building for November.”

The state has also posted an unofficial general-election candidate list for NJ-11 that includes independent or third-party candidates Vincent Matrosciano, Alan B. Bond and Russell A. Jenkins. The final November ballot will be determined through the state election process.

For Morristown-area voters, the race now moves from a crowded Democratic primary into a general election that will help decide representation for a district covering suburban communities across three counties. The next major step is the certification of primary results, followed by the fall campaign for the full congressional term.