Analilia Mejía
D · U.S. House, NJ-11 · Tier 3/4
Tier 3/4, between “Pro-Israel, critical” and “Critical / conditions aid”
Won the 2026 NJ-11 special; the field’s most outspoken Israel critic — raised the lone hand affirming Gaza is a genocide at a Jan 2026 primary forum, though at the April debate she declined to repeat it, saying instead that Israel violated international law; refuses AIPAC money and a free AIPAC trip; Block the Bombs cosponsor (Apr 27, 2026). AIPAC’s UDP spent $2M+ against Tom Malinowski (whose prior seat was NJ-7), which backfired. She affirms Israel's right to exist and frames her arms ban as offensive-only — targeting 2,000-lb bombs — within a human-rights and two-state posture, and backs no embargo bill. In August and September 2026 Mejía signed Tlaib’s letter demanding the release of 20-year-old US citizen Sama Safi from Israeli military detention, the Dexter–Ruiz letter seeking the release of Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention without charge (Sep 8) and the Pocan–Quigley letter on Palestinian medical workers held by Israel without charge (Sep 24). On Oct 1, 2026 Mejía became an original cosponsor of the Stop the Settlements Act (H.R.10642), which would sanction those who build or expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and ban imports of settlement goods. On Oct 21, 2026, after Israeli forces detained her constituent Dr. Alan Gordon with American rabbis and Brad Lander during the olive harvest, she said the problem in the West Bank “is violent settlers terrorizing Palestinian communities with the backing and protection of the Netanyahu government” and pledged to “demand accountability for settler violence, freedom for those unjustly detained, and an end to the illegal occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory.” She won the June 2, 2026 Democratic primary for a full term with 82% and faces Republican Joe Hathaway and Alan B. Bond of the Hope for Tomorrow line in November. Defending her past use of the word genocide at their Oct 26, 2026 debate at Saint Elizabeth University, she said “Irrespective of what you call it, what we are seeing happen to the Palestinian people is horrific” and “We have a responsibility to protect human life” (New Jersey Globe); InsiderNJ reported that she rejected Hathaway’s charge of antisemitism, saying she has worked with her “Jewish brothers and sisters” throughout her career, and that after the debate she defended her vote against a Gottheimer-backed campus antisemitism bill as respect for everyone’s First Amendment right to speak out. Jewish Insider reported on Oct 23, 2026 that Mejía was among about 30 signers of a draft letter, led by Rep. Ro Khanna and gathering signatures through Nov 6, urging the negotiators of the 2027 defense authorization bill to strip its U.S.-Israel defense-technology cooperation provisions; the draft, which cites Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, says “These are not the actions of a government whose defense establishment should be granted deeper access to American military technology, nor rewarded with U.S. defense contracts,” and asks that any framework kept “carry human rights conditions consistent with those governing other United States security assistance.”
A 3/4 straddle set by conduct. Her record reaches past a flat 3 toward 4: she cosponsors the Block the Bombs Act (Apr 27, 2026, a week after she was sworn in), the offensive-arms-conditioning act, and carries a genocide history (the lone raised hand at the Jan 2026 forum) plus current international-law-violation framing and opposition to 2,000-lb bombs. In July 2026 she also cosponsored Casten’s Ceasefire Compliance Act and voted Aye on the Massie amendment to strip Israel’s $3.3B in military financing, and in September she voted Nay on the anti-boycott bill (H.R.4795), but her framing holds her at 3/4 rather than a clean 4: she declined to repeat the genocide charge at the April debate, saying only that Israel violated international law (at the October debate: “Irrespective of what you call it, what we are seeing happen to the Palestinian people is horrific”), affirms Israel’s right to exist, frames her ban as offensive-only within a human-rights/two-state posture, and holds no embargo bill or position questioning Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state. Her AIPAC refusal sets her apart from the AIPAC-funded 2/3s, but the mainstream framing keeps her at 3/4.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).