LEILA FADEL, HOST:
One of the first congressional primaries of the year is being held today in New Jersey for a special election in a seat left open when Democrat Mikie Sherrill won her race to be the state's governor. While Sherrill won with a message focused on improving the cost of living, recent concerns among Democrats about ICE tactics have changed the dynamics in a Democratic primary race in a district that historically elects moderates. Here to walk us through why this race matters is WNYC's New Jersey politics reporter Mike Hayes. Good morning. Welcome to the program.
MIKE HAYES, BYLINE: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
FADEL: So, Mike, this is a primary in a safe, Democratic congressional district for a special election. So why are you watching it?
HAYES: Yeah, here's why this race is uniquely interesting, Leila. So on the Democratic side, 11 candidates are running to replace Sherrill. So you have a diverse range of candidates across the party spectrum. And what this has set up is an interesting test to see what sort of Democrat voters are favoring at this moment, a progressive outsider or one of the more moderate establishment candidate.
FADEL: OK, so tell us about some of the candidates.
HAYES: There's Tom Malinowski, Brendan Gill and Tahesha Way, all well-known in New Jersey, strong fundraisers, particularly Malinowski. They're our top tier of establishment, middle-of-the-road Democrats, Leila. Now, challenging them, there's a crop of outsiders in this race trying to upend that establishment wing. And the candidate consolidating the most progressive support is longtime New Jersey labor activist Analilia Mejia. She's run to the left of the other candidates in this race and tried to use their political insider status against them. And she's got some heavy hitters backing her, Leila, most notably Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren.
FADEL: So Mejia has a lot of progressive supporters. But as we said earlier, this is pretty traditionally a moderate district for Democrats. So does she have a chance of actually winning?
HAYES: Yeah, if Mejia were to win Leila, it would definitely be an upset. This is a safe Democratic district, but you're right, it's a moderate district. Something else interesting to note here that speaks to that, before Mikie Sherrill won, this district was held by Republicans for three decades. A lone Republican is running in the GOP primary, but recent shifts in this district make it more favorable to the Democrats. However, we've seen a trend of late with progressives mounting effective challenges against establishment Democrats. Several outsider left-wing candidates won seats on the New Jersey state assembly this November.
FADEL: Yeah.
HAYES: And if you look to places like Maine, we see progressives running in races we are going to be watching come the midterms.
FADEL: And we've seen some upsets before - right? - like New York City. Tell me about how ICE enforcement is factoring into this race.
HAYES: Yeah, it's become a big factor here, Leila. Most of the candidates in the race have come out against more funding for ICE. However, Mejia has also taken a stronger stance when it comes to ICE. She says she wants to abolish the agency. Now, concerns over immigration enforcement tactics is something we've seen appear in races across the country after the fatal shootings in Minnesota. And as the results come in tonight, Leila, this will be one of the first times this year we learn if a far-left message on ICE is resonating with voters or if they prefer a more moderate approach.
FADEL: That's WNYC's Mike Hayes. Thank you, Mike.
HAYES: Thanks so much for having me.
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