WASHINGTON — The Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th District remained close Friday, with fewer than 500 votes separating progressive organizer Analilia Mejia and former Rep. Tom Malinowski and an estimated 6,000 ballots still to be counted.

Still, Mejia’s late emergence into first place Thursday night set the stage for a potential upset for the activist who claimed the progressive lane in the crowded primary to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s former House seat. The latest results showed Mejia with 28.75% of the vote to Malinowski’s 27.96%, a difference of 486 votes, with 91% of the votes in, according to The Associated Press.

Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way was in third place with 17.43%, followed by Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill with 14.22%.

“I do think that we have emerged victorious, but I want to first make sure that every voter’s voice is heard,” Mejia told reporters Friday. “I’m already thinking about how do we consolidate so that we can tackle the bigger issue, which is how do we reclaim democracy in our nation and ensure that the voices of voters in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District are actually heard.”

Malinowski jumped to an early lead Thursday night after polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern. But Mejia surged ahead around 10:15 p.m. as more returns came in.

Some outlets had even called the race for Malinowski early Thursday night, leading Mejia to later share on social media the famous 1948 photo of President Harry Truman holding up a newspaper with the erroneous “Dewey defeats Truman” headline.

“This race remains too close to call, with thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots still outstanding and yet to be counted,” Kaylie Haberstroh, Malinowski’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Given the volume of votes still to be reported and the way mail-in ballots have broken throughout this race, we remain confident heading into the continued count.”

The winner will be favored in the April 16 special general election against Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Sherrill won a fourth term in 2024 by 15 points, while Kamala Harris carried the North Jersey district by 9 points the same year, according to calculations by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

Progressives who supported Mejia’s campaign over the past several weeks have been celebrating her performance even as the race remains uncalled. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders held a rally in the district last month for Mejia, who worked on his 2020 presidential bid, as well as a virtual rally for her on the eve of the election. She also had the backing of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley, among other progressive members.

“This is the second big congressional primary in two weeks where voters chose the more progressive candidate and made clear they want Democrats who will shake up a broken political and economic system — not just be anti-Trump,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement, also referring to Texas Democrat Christian Menefee’s victory in a Jan. 31 special election runoff.

Several progressive outside groups, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s leadership PAC, made late investments to boost Mejia’s campaign, which Jayapal said was enough to move the needle against bigger spenders.

“When there’s a real Organizer running, We don’t need to match $ for $ — we just need to be in the ring,” the former Congressional Progressive Caucus chair said on social media.

Mejia acknowledged that she entered the race with minimal name recognition, while Malinowski, who served two terms representing the neighboring 7th District, was more well-known from three past competitive races in the same media market.

But Malinowski, who was the top fundraiser in the race, faced $2.3 million in opposition spending from the United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. While the group opposed Malinowski, who had reportedly said he was open to limits on funding for Israel, Mejia has been a sharper critic of the country’s government.

“The outcome in NJ-11 was an anticipated possibility, and our focus remains on who will serve the next full term in Congress,” the United Democracy Project said in a Friday statement. “UDP will be closely monitoring dozens of primary races, including the June NJ-11 primary, to help ensure pro-Israel candidates are elected to Congress.”

Whoever wins the nomination, and ultimately the seat, will need to quickly pivot to the June primary to win the nomination for a full term. Still, the outcome so far raised questions about AIPAC’s influence in other Democratic primary contests this year, with the war in Gaza emerging as a differentiator among Democratic candidates in several races.

Further tests could come next month in Illinois. Democrats running to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the deep-blue 9th District include state Sen. Laura Fine and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who are both Jewish.

Biss has criticized Fine, including at a recent candidate forum, for receiving campaign contributions from donors who previously gave to Trump and AIPAC. Federal filings don’t show that UDP has made any independent expenditures in that race, but the group has reportedly sent fundraising appeals on Fine’s behalf.

“Local residents know that Laura Fine’s campaign is being propped up by AIPAC and Republican megadonors, not grassroots support from the community she’s asking to represent,” Biss, who has Schakowsky’s endorsement, said in a statement.

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