Analilia Mejia

Analilia Mejia's mother worked as a seamstress and held multiple jobs before finding union work, a change Mejia describes as a turning point for the family's finances.¹ The daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants was born in Elizabeth and now lives in Glen Ridge with her husband and two sons.²³

Mejia earned her bachelor's degree and two master's degrees at Rutgers University.² She credits Pell Grants and Rutgers' Educational Opportunity Fund with helping make college possible.³ Her early career included union organizing and leading the New Jersey Working Families Alliance's campaigns for higher minimum wages and paid sick leave.¹

She became national political director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, served as deputy director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau under Joe Biden, and later helped lead Popular Democracy.¹² An April 2026 special election brought her to Congress after Mikie Sherrill left the House to become New Jersey governor.²³ Her committees are Homeland Security and Small Business.¹

In Congress, Mejia helped introduce the Living Wage for All Act, a proposal to phase in a $25 federal minimum wage.⁴ Its schedule would reach that level for large, profitable employers by 2031 and smaller employers by 2038.⁵ Republican Joe Hathaway is her November challenger in New Jersey's 11th District.⁶