Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) is seen before her swearing in ceremony on Monday, April 20, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Mejia's Win Proves That Progressive Ideas Are Also Popular Ideas
Poll after poll shows majorities of the public back taxing corporations and the very rich, prefer a Medicare for All healthcare system to our patchwork private insurance system, and are deeply concerned about climate change.
Apr 30, 2026
The re-election of Donald Trump reignited a simmering feud between the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party. While centrists have cautioned against alienating “moderate” voters, progressives have urged the party to rally around universal healthcare, raising wages, and other populist measures.
If recent elections are any indication, moderate voters seem plenty receptive to progressive appeals.
Newly minted Rep. Analilia Mejia recently won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th district in the House of Representatives. Mejia replaces moderate Democrat Mikie Sherill, who vacated her seat in the affluent, suburban district after winning the state’s gubernatorial election.
Mejia gave a fiery inaugural address on April 20 calling on her colleagues to “Stand up, defend, and restore not only our democracy, but also a just economy that actually works for working people.”
Centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans.
Mejia has built a political career championing economic populism. Not only did she serve as Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 campaign political director, but was also co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy and director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.
Poll after poll shows majorities of the public back taxing corporations and the very rich, prefer a Medicare for All healthcare system to our patchwork private insurance system, and are deeply concerned about climate change. Mejia says that makes those issues good politics as well as policy.
I talked to Mejia in the run-up to the 2022 midterms. “The policies that really motivate people, that work for working families,” she told me then, “are also popular ideas.”
She’s right. This year, Mejia won her suburban district handily, beating out Republicans and more centrist or conservative Democrats. Her populist, morally unambiguous platform included a demand to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a denunciation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In November 2026, Mejia will run for the same congressional seat, facing Republican candidate Joe Hathaway, a man who labeled her a “radical socialist.”
But there’s nothing radical about popular programs that address affordability.
Pundits have claimed for years that tacking to the center is a surefire way to win political power. When Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president on a centrist campaign in 2024, many explained her loss to Donald Trump as the result of her identity rather than her politics.
But centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans. Sharp analysts such as Tressie McMillan Cottom identified the real reason Harris lost, saying her “promise was that nothing much would change about the country but the race and gender of the one in charge.”
At a time when some members of Harris’ party are giving in to a white supremacist resurgence by backing away from people of color in positions of power, Mejia leans into her racial and ethnic identity to connect with voters of all backgrounds. “I am the daughter of a Dominican factory worker and a Colombian seamstress who knew struggle,” she said during her inaugural speech.
Indeed, candidates like Mejia—and progressive populist politicians such as Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani—have proven that demographic diversity is not a liability for candidates who embrace justice-driven platforms and take principled stands on issues.
“The ideas that we support are popular ideas, are transformative ideas, and if we get together and raise our voices, we can and must win,” Mejia told me in 2022. “Everything depends on it.”
She added, “Democracy is not a spectator sport. You have to jump in and participate.” And that’s precisely what she did.
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Sonali Kolhatkar is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-Director of the non-profit group, Afghan Women's Mission. She has a Master's in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from The University of Texas at Austin. Watch her 2014 Tedx talk, My journey from astrophysicist to radio host. She can be reached at www.sonalikolhatkar.com
analilia-mejia
affordability
medicare for all
inequality
climate emergency
democratic party
progressives
The re-election of Donald Trump reignited a simmering feud between the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party. While centrists have cautioned against alienating “moderate” voters, progressives have urged the party to rally around universal healthcare, raising wages, and other populist measures.
If recent elections are any indication, moderate voters seem plenty receptive to progressive appeals.
Newly minted Rep. Analilia Mejia recently won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th district in the House of Representatives. Mejia replaces moderate Democrat Mikie Sherill, who vacated her seat in the affluent, suburban district after winning the state’s gubernatorial election.
Mejia gave a fiery inaugural address on April 20 calling on her colleagues to “Stand up, defend, and restore not only our democracy, but also a just economy that actually works for working people.”
Centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans.
Mejia has built a political career championing economic populism. Not only did she serve as Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 campaign political director, but was also co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy and director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.
Poll after poll shows majorities of the public back taxing corporations and the very rich, prefer a Medicare for All healthcare system to our patchwork private insurance system, and are deeply concerned about climate change. Mejia says that makes those issues good politics as well as policy.
I talked to Mejia in the run-up to the 2022 midterms. “The policies that really motivate people, that work for working families,” she told me then, “are also popular ideas.”
She’s right. This year, Mejia won her suburban district handily, beating out Republicans and more centrist or conservative Democrats. Her populist, morally unambiguous platform included a demand to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a denunciation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In November 2026, Mejia will run for the same congressional seat, facing Republican candidate Joe Hathaway, a man who labeled her a “radical socialist.”
But there’s nothing radical about popular programs that address affordability.
Pundits have claimed for years that tacking to the center is a surefire way to win political power. When Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president on a centrist campaign in 2024, many explained her loss to Donald Trump as the result of her identity rather than her politics.
But centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans. Sharp analysts such as Tressie McMillan Cottom identified the real reason Harris lost, saying her “promise was that nothing much would change about the country but the race and gender of the one in charge.”
At a time when some members of Harris’ party are giving in to a white supremacist resurgence by backing away from people of color in positions of power, Mejia leans into her racial and ethnic identity to connect with voters of all backgrounds. “I am the daughter of a Dominican factory worker and a Colombian seamstress who knew struggle,” she said during her inaugural speech.
Indeed, candidates like Mejia—and progressive populist politicians such as Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani—have proven that demographic diversity is not a liability for candidates who embrace justice-driven platforms and take principled stands on issues.
“The ideas that we support are popular ideas, are transformative ideas, and if we get together and raise our voices, we can and must win,” Mejia told me in 2022. “Everything depends on it.”
She added, “Democracy is not a spectator sport. You have to jump in and participate.” And that’s precisely what she did.
From Your Site Articles
- Don’t Listen to the Corporate Media; Progressive Candidates Are on a Roll ›
- Why Status-Quo Dems Should Heed the Progressive Earthquake in New Jersey ›
- Every Single Participant in NYT Focus Group Preferred Progressive Candidates Over Moderate Ones ›
- Look to Analilia Mejía's Victory, Says Bernie Sanders: 'This Can Be Done Everywhere' ›
- Progressive Analilia Mejia Declares 'People-Powered Victory' in New Jersey as AIPAC Spending Backfires ›
- 'A New World Is Possible': NJ Voters Elect Progressive, Pro-Palestinian Organizer Analilia Mejia ›
Sonali Kolhatkar is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-Director of the non-profit group, Afghan Women's Mission. She has a Master's in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from The University of Texas at Austin. Watch her 2014 Tedx talk, My journey from astrophysicist to radio host. She can be reached at www.sonalikolhatkar.com
The re-election of Donald Trump reignited a simmering feud between the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party. While centrists have cautioned against alienating “moderate” voters, progressives have urged the party to rally around universal healthcare, raising wages, and other populist measures.
If recent elections are any indication, moderate voters seem plenty receptive to progressive appeals.
Newly minted Rep. Analilia Mejia recently won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th district in the House of Representatives. Mejia replaces moderate Democrat Mikie Sherill, who vacated her seat in the affluent, suburban district after winning the state’s gubernatorial election.
Mejia gave a fiery inaugural address on April 20 calling on her colleagues to “Stand up, defend, and restore not only our democracy, but also a just economy that actually works for working people.”
Centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans.
Mejia has built a political career championing economic populism. Not only did she serve as Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 campaign political director, but was also co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy and director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.
Poll after poll shows majorities of the public back taxing corporations and the very rich, prefer a Medicare for All healthcare system to our patchwork private insurance system, and are deeply concerned about climate change. Mejia says that makes those issues good politics as well as policy.
I talked to Mejia in the run-up to the 2022 midterms. “The policies that really motivate people, that work for working families,” she told me then, “are also popular ideas.”
She’s right. This year, Mejia won her suburban district handily, beating out Republicans and more centrist or conservative Democrats. Her populist, morally unambiguous platform included a demand to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a denunciation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In November 2026, Mejia will run for the same congressional seat, facing Republican candidate Joe Hathaway, a man who labeled her a “radical socialist.”
But there’s nothing radical about popular programs that address affordability.
Pundits have claimed for years that tacking to the center is a surefire way to win political power. When Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president on a centrist campaign in 2024, many explained her loss to Donald Trump as the result of her identity rather than her politics.
But centrism means preserving the status quo—and the status quo is a failure for most Americans. Sharp analysts such as Tressie McMillan Cottom identified the real reason Harris lost, saying her “promise was that nothing much would change about the country but the race and gender of the one in charge.”
At a time when some members of Harris’ party are giving in to a white supremacist resurgence by backing away from people of color in positions of power, Mejia leans into her racial and ethnic identity to connect with voters of all backgrounds. “I am the daughter of a Dominican factory worker and a Colombian seamstress who knew struggle,” she said during her inaugural speech.
Indeed, candidates like Mejia—and progressive populist politicians such as Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani—have proven that demographic diversity is not a liability for candidates who embrace justice-driven platforms and take principled stands on issues.
“The ideas that we support are popular ideas, are transformative ideas, and if we get together and raise our voices, we can and must win,” Mejia told me in 2022. “Everything depends on it.”
She added, “Democracy is not a spectator sport. You have to jump in and participate.” And that’s precisely what she did.
From Your Site Articles
- Don’t Listen to the Corporate Media; Progressive Candidates Are on a Roll ›
- Why Status-Quo Dems Should Heed the Progressive Earthquake in New Jersey ›
- Every Single Participant in NYT Focus Group Preferred Progressive Candidates Over Moderate Ones ›
- Look to Analilia Mejía's Victory, Says Bernie Sanders: 'This Can Be Done Everywhere' ›
- Progressive Analilia Mejia Declares 'People-Powered Victory' in New Jersey as AIPAC Spending Backfires ›
- 'A New World Is Possible': NJ Voters Elect Progressive, Pro-Palestinian Organizer Analilia Mejia ›
analilia-mejia
affordability
medicare for all
inequality
climate emergency
democratic party
progressives
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