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A progressive organizer<\/span> beat the odds against millions in outside spending to win the special primary election for a congressional seat in New Jersey, offering a promising sign to left insurgents in the coming midterms and revealing a severe miscalculation on the part of the pro-Israel lobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former Rep. Tom Malinowski conceded the race in New Jersey\u2019s 11th Congressional District on Tuesday to Analilia Mejia, former political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2020 presidential campaign, after initial results showed a slim margin between the two candidates for several days.<\/p>\n Mejia won \u201cdespite being outspent essentially ten-to-one by not just AIPAC and outside groups but also the New Jersey political machine,\u201d said Antoinette Miles, state director for the New Jersey Working Families Party. Mejia previously led the group, which backed her campaign and helped organize her field operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNo one would really categorize this district as being a left district,\u201d Miles said, pointing to the race as a sign progressive candidates can connect with voters in more moderate districts. A Republican represented the district until 2019, when former Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen retired and former Rep. Mikie Sherrill was elected.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the deck stacked against Mejia and little public polling in the three months since Sherrill vacated the seat to take office as New Jersey governor, there was no clear front-runner in the race. Internal polling in the final weeks of the race showed Malinowski and Mejia pulling ahead and almost equally matched, with New Jersey Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way further behind in third place,\u00a0according to a source with knowledge of the data.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rather than targeting Mejia, the pro-Israel lobby spent more than $2 million against Malinowski, likely splitting moderate voters<\/a>, while known pro-Israel donors directed funding in Way\u2019s favor. United Democracy Project, the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent on ads attacking Malinowski, and AIPAC donors flooded Way\u2019s campaign with more than $50,000 in the final weeks of the race. The strategy, which UDP said was meant to help them elect the more pro-Israel candidate because Malinowski had previously questioned the provision of unconditional aid to Israel, appeared to backfire, as some observers predicted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis election is a clear rejection of AIPAC by Democratic voters \u2014 AIPAC\u2019s spending and support for candidates is becoming a kiss of death in Democratic primaries because of the work our movement has done to expose them,\u201d said Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi. The group did not endorse in the race but said Mejia\u2019s win was a positive sign for the left as midterms progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a clear sign that the Democratic electorate is desperate to elect new leaders \u2014 like the dozen of working-class champions we\u2019re supporting in primaries this cycle \u2014 that aren\u2019t bought by AIPAC, crypto, AI, or any other corporate lobby that has created the intentionally weak and ineffective Democratic Party failing us in Congress right now,\u201d Andrabi added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n