Northeast
Dem free-for-all engulfs NJ as 13 contenders scramble for Sherrill’s House seat ahead of critical 2026 fight
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Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s win in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race has triggered a crowded special election to fill her U.S. House seat, with 13 Democrats contending for the nomination to face the lone Republican candidate in the race.
The staggering 13-candidate Democratic field in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District could set the tone for Democrats’ messaging priorities as the country heads into a midterm election year that could determine if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate in 2026 amid President Donald Trump’s second-term.
Monday marked the filing deadline for candidates vying to replace Sherrill, where candidates were required to secure at least 500 signatures to make the special election ballot.
Outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., issued the writ of election on Friday, Nov. 21, after Sherrill formally resigned from office on Thursday, Nov. 20. The special primary election is set for Feb. 5, 2026, and the special general election will be held on April 16, 2026.
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Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill delivers remarks at her election night watch party on Nov. 4, 2025, in East Brunswick, New Jersey. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
The election comes as Democrats secured gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia and passed Proposition 50 in California this year, allowing the state to move forward with a new congressional map that is expected to add up to five Democratic-leaning districts.
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Murphy has already endorsed Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, touting his commitment to affordability and protecting “freedoms” in the fight against Trump. As the Essex County commissioner-at-large, Gill represents 22 towns in Essex County, and according to his campaign website, is committed to “taking on tough fights and delivering results that make our communities stronger, safer, and fairer.”
While Gill has secured a coveted endorsement from the outgoing governor, Democratic voters in New Jersey’s 11th will have 12 more candidates to choose from in February.
Progressive star Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has also thrown his hat in the ring to endorse the national political director of his 2020 presidential campaign, Analilia Mejia.
Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of Center for Popular Democracy, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on April 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“As oligarchs and corporate interests continue to capture our government, we need true progressives to take our country back for working people. Analilia’s experience and deep dedication to working families make her the best choice for this seat. I’m proud to endorse her,” Sanders said last month.
Mejia served in the Department of Labor under President Joe Biden and is currently the co-executive director of Popular Democracy, a progressive grassroots advocacy group demanding “transformational change for Black, brown, and low-income communities.”
Another high-profile candidate with his own high-profile endorsement, former Rep. Tom Malinowski is running to return to Congress after losing his re-election for New Jersey’s 7th District in 2022.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., has endorsed Malinowski, touting his experience fighting the Trump administration. Malinowski served as President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for democracy and human rights and was a senior director on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council.
Rep. Tom Malinowski participated in a rally on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on May 13, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Outgoing Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way is also in the running for New Jersey’s 11th. The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association has endorsed Way, spotlighting her commitment to “expanding opportunity and delivering results.”
Way has also served as New Jersey’s secretary of state and was the first Black person and first secretary of New Jersey to lead the National Association of Secretaries of State as president.
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Meanwhile, Chatham Councilman Justin Strickland, a U.S. Army veteran, Bronze Star recipient and former Pentagon official, is also competing for the Democratic nomination.
Strickland has centered his campaign on affordability — the winning issue in the past two election cycles.
“Our campaign revolves around one simple principle: ensuring everybody has the economic liberty to fulfill the American Dream,” Strickland said on his campaign website.
Another Democratic candidate, Anna Lee Williams, is an activist who, according to her campaign website, has spent the past decade in the “nonprofit and private sectors bringing people together around causes that matter to them.”
Gov. Phil Murphy gives a speech on the Hudson River tunnel project at the West Side Yard on Jan. 31, 2023, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Democratic candidate Jeff Grayzel is a local leader who currently serves as a committeeman for Morris Township, as chairman of the police commission and on the Board of Health.
He is the former mayor of Morris Township who is “committed to solving everyday problems facing residents, such as keeping taxes stable, controlling over-development, improving our infrastructure, and addressing our deteriorating environment,” according to his campaign website.
U.S. veteran and former Army paratrooper Zach Beecher said he is “running for Congress because Donald Trump and a failed Congress are putting our people and our country at risk,” citing rising costs, healthcare and leadership on the world stage.
Per his campaign website, Beecher is currently a major in the U.S. Army Reserves, and his congressional run marks his political debut.
Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett, who is also competing for the Democratic nomination, said he is running because New Jersey deserves “another fighter who’s ready on day one, with a record of results and a focus on what really matters to us here” and “because it’s clear that Washington needs leaders who believe in the idea of public service and are willing to put country over party.”
Another Democratic candidate, Cammie Croft, helped the Obama administration pass the Affordable Care Act, touting her commitment to “advancing humane, bipartisan immigration reforms, to building a clean energy nonprofit that helps families lower their energy bills.”
Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey votes on Election Day, in Montclair, New Jersey, on Nov. 4, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Her priorities in Congress are “lowering costs for families, ending corruption, and building a stronger, fairer economy that works for everyone,” according to Croft’s campaign website.
Marc Chaaban, a former congressional staffer for Sherrill, is seeking to replace his former boss in the office he once served.
Reflecting the sentiment of his fellow Gen Z activists and politicos, the 25-year-old said “too many Democrats in Washington are asleep at the wheel” and the moment “demands a different kind of politics.”
His commitments include rejecting Trump’s agenda, banning members of Congress from stock trading, prohibiting corporate PAC money in elections and investigating the “Trump-Epstein cover-up.”
Dean Dafis, a Maplewood township committeeman and the former mayor of Maplewood, said he is committed to making New Jersey’s 11th a more affordable place to live for working-class families. Per his campaign website, he is a civil rights advocate and the first openly LGBTQ representative on the Maplewood Township Committee.
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Finally, J.L. Cauvin is a community advocate, lawyer and comedian competing for the Democratic nomination. He is running on protecting seniors, making housing more affordable, leading on artificial intelligence, protecting democracy, banning stock trading and applying term limits in Congress.
The lone Republican candidate is Joe Hathaway, who is currently the mayor of Randolph Township and began his political career as an aide to Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J.
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The ad begins with a woman standing in a department store who sort of looks like Gov. Janet Mills, but not quite.
“Introducing the Janet Mills collection, featuring a confusing choice that forces girls to compete against biological males,” the female narrator says over banal instrumental music as the video cuts to “Mills” holding a stopwatch by an outdoor track.
The Mills collection comes “with a no-parent-permission-required estrogen kit,” the narrator continues, as the imposter holds a kit of syringes while patting a boy’s hair, which seems suspiciously stiff. The commercial ends with a real picture of the governor.
As far as ads generated by artificial intelligence go, the one from the National Republican Senatorial Committee is not very convincing. But the commercial serves as a reminder about how the emerging technology is being integrated into political campaigns and other areas of life in Maine.
If state Democratic leaders get their way, AI-generated ads like this won’t be allowed in Maine without a disclaimer.
As AI technology rapidly improves, state policymakers are weighing a variety of measures that could affect how Mainers interact with it. They are taking a two-pronged approach to protect people, especially children, from potential harms — while also preparing for the possible benefits.
The technology comes in the form of virtual personal assistants, internet search results and targeted advertising by businesses. It’s being used by governments for things ranging from traffic signals to budgets and policymaking to facial recognition to surveillance.
Mills said in a written statement that AI could help improve lives, drive economic growth and solve complex problems, but that it must be used in a “prudent, responsible, and ethical manner.”
“As AI becomes more prevalent in our society, its considerable promise must be balanced against harms — known and unforeseen — that can emerge from its widespread use,” she said. “It’s clear we’re only at the beginning of AI’s evolution.”
The governor has proposed $6.7 million in her supplemental budget to begin implementing some of the recommendations of a 21-member task force she created last year to study the issue.
Her proposal, which is being reviewed by lawmakers, would create a statewide AI literacy campaign; fund local and state partnerships to help municipalities use the technology and offer grants to support job training programs to keep Maine’s workforce competitive and productive in AI-enabled workplaces, among other things.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering bills to address potential harms. In a rare bipartisan move, Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously last month in support of a bill (LD 524) making AI-generated child sex abuse material illegal. But that bill must receive about $55,000 before it can be sent to the governor.
They are also considering bills:
- To require political ads in state and local elections to include a disclosure when AI-generated or altered material is used (LD 517).
- To stop human-like chatbots or social AI companions from interacting with children (LD 2162).
- And to regulate how the technology is used in mental health settings (LD 2082).
Last year, lawmakers passed a measure including AI-generated images in the state’s ban on so-called “revenge porn,” and one requiring companies to inform consumers when they’re interacting with an AI assistant. Mills signed both into law.
Other proposals regulating AI use in medical and dental insurance claims and in setting rents died in committees. So did one prohibiting the use of AI in “dynamic pricing,” in which businesses use the technology to offer different real-time prices to different consumers.
Over 1,000 measures focusing on artificial intelligence were debated in state capitols last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures said.
Some states, such as Colorado and California, are taking steps to enact a broad regulatory framework for AI. California has provisions preventing discrimination in the workplace and requiring watermarks on AI content and transparency around data used to produce reports.
But Maine lawmakers are seeking to address potential harms on a case-by-case basis — at least for now.
“I think of it as almost a whack-a-mole type of approach where we are developing legislation that very narrowly addresses specific harms of AI,” said Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, who is taking the lead for House Democrats.
“That sort of overarching regulatory framework just feels a little premature for Maine to me right now. I want to see that work its way through the states and let some other states take a swing before we get in there.”
Republicans, however, are worried about overregulation.
Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, said her caucus is focused on protecting children from potential harms associated with AI, but she worries that regulation will never keep up with AI’s evolution.
“You can’t always legislate your way out of everything,” Poirier said. “If you have a minor that has access to AI, and it can be used to harm them in any way, it’s our responsibility as adults to keep them safe. … But we are adults, and we need to use our own common sense.”
A recent poll from Pan Atlantic Research showed widespread concern about AI, with 66% of the 810 Mainers surveyed saying they’re mostly concerned about the potential problems of AI, while 25% were mostly optimistic.
More advanced programs can generate text, analyze reports and create increasingly lifelike images and videos. A recent AI video purporting to show Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt throwing down over the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein raised alarm bells in Hollywood over its realism.
Other programs have been used by businesses in ways critics say can be exploitative. Consumer Reports recently published a story about how the online grocery shopping service Instacart used AI to charge certain customers higher prices — up to 23% more — if they were flagged as having higher incomes. Instacart reportedly stopped offering stores this option for “surveillance pricing” after the story was published in December.
A lobbying effort is underway to promote AI regulation in Maine. The “Protect What’s Human” campaign launched a website earlier this year, and a spokesperson said they have invested about $210,000 in ads supporting AI regulations. The commercials are targeting Republicans voters in the Bangor and Portland regions. The group is planning to spend another $110,000 on TV, streaming services, social media and podcasts.
Other proposals passed by the Legislature reflect lawmakers’ attempts to get ahead of the AI issue in indirect ways.
The House and Senate have each recently passed a strict data privacy law that would greatly restrict the amount of data — a person’s location, browsing and shopping histories and biometric information, for example— that companies can collect, store and sell. One of the main arguments was that such data can be used to train AI models. However, the chambers will have to iron out the differences between their two versions of the measure, LD 1822, if it is to become law.
And local residents are beginning to grapple with proposed data centers, which have been controversial in other parts of the county because they consume large amounts of water. This is especially true for centers powering AI.
Lawmakers are considering a bill, LD 307, to create a moratorium on such centers and establish a state council to study and review the impact of building them in Maine.
Construction is underway on a data center in Aroostook County, while another is being proposed in Sanford. Others have been proposed in Wiscasset and Lewiston, but did not move forward.
“This whole world is shifting to computer everything,” Poirier said, “and it’s important that we keep up with the times on that.”
Massachusetts
Massachusetts beach towns look to ease ‘overly strict’ conservation rules: ‘Common sense’
As certain shorebirds rebound in population along the Massachusetts coast, beach towns are pushing for the state to strike a healthier balance between conservation and recreation.
State Rep. Kenneth Sweezey, a South Shore Republican, is leading the charge on Beacon Hill, authoring legislation to untangle what he describes as “overly strict” regulations hindering his region’s access to its beaches.
Over the years, Duxbury Beach, in particular, has borne the brunt of protecting recovering bird species, including piping plovers and terns, limiting business and recreational opportunities at the prominent South Shore coastline.
The Duxbury Beach Reservation, a private landlord, has had to close certain roads and portions of the shoreline while birds are nesting. Residents and visitors are also required to have an oversand vehicle permit, which costs more than $150, for beach access.
Under one of Sweezey’s proposals, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife would only restrict over-sand vehicle access or other recreational activities if the bird species is listed as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Sweezey has said that piping plovers are the only species nesting on Duxbury Beach, which his district includes, that are federally endangered, while other birds carry a state designation.
“Birds may be federally protected because they’re doing poorly in one region of the nation, even though they may be thriving in the Commonwealth,” Sweezey said at the State House last week. “Those differences sort of create problems when you’re looking at human access, recreational opportunities on the beaches and conservation on the beach.”
Sweezey made his appeal to the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, touting shorebird management expert Chris Kennedy for helping him craft his proposals.
Kennedy, a wildlife biologist who has worked for the state Environmental Police and Division of Fisheries and Wildlife over the decades, is championing an equal balance between conservation and recreation.
In response to a post in the ‘Save Duxbury Beach’ Facebook page, Kennedy highlighted how the Bay State has seen a nearly “tenfold” jump in nesting plovers since 1986, going from 140 to over 1,200 last year. Roseate and common terns are also “strongly increasing,” while least terns are “slowly climbing.”
“Reasonable public access is not anti-birds,” Kennedy stated. “It is simply common sense.”
The 1,221 nesting pairs of plovers identified in 2025 marked a record high for the species’ population, up even from the 1,196 in 2024, numbers show.
According to the state’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, Duxbury Beach had 149 days of recreational activity last year.
Sweezey is also calling state regulators to conduct a review of their recreational management guidelines that protect piping plovers, terns and their habitats across the state at least once every two years. Part of that process would include two public hearings.
Patrick Parquette, a government affairs officer for the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, called the state’s current shorebird management program “long outdated,” having been adopted in 1993.
Parquette pointed out how, decades ago, nests of certain shorebirds needed to be a minimum of an eighth of a mile apart. Today, species, including the piping plover, are nesting within 100 feet of each other.
“At the time, it was based on the best thinking that we had,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a reasonable human being in this building, no matter the ilk or philosophy they come from, that would say that our knowledge base 33 years ago could compare with today’s knowledge base.”
Andrew Marshall, founder of the Save Duxbury Beach nonprofit advocacy group, centers his concerns around climate change and its effects on the Plymouth County town of roughly 16,000.
“We’re being unfairly punished due to climate change, with some of these southern birds moving up to the north here,” Marshall told lawmakers. “These birds aren’t rare or threatened. They’re just new in our area.”
A third piece of legislation that Sweezey has crafted would ban state regulators from prohibiting any beach management program from using all legally authorized shorebird nesting mitigation tools under the state’s habitat conservation plan.
Sweezey said a goal of the bill would be to promote parity among Massachusetts beaches.
“These bills,” the representative said, “are critically important to our environment, our coastal traditions and local economies down in Duxbury, but really along the entire coast.”
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