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Welcome back. Ana Lilia Mejia declared the winner in the Democratic primary for Governor Mike Ichiro's old seat in Congress. This is District 11. The official call finally came in Thursday, a week after election day. Mejia thanking her supporters. Mejia is a progressive, much farther left than others in the primary field, and she had the backing of some big names like AOC. She ran on a campaign focused on affordability, healthcare, and a call to abolish ICE. We cannot continue to fund an entity that is completely wildly out of control. Now for days the race was too close to call between Mejia and former Congressman Tom Malinowski. Now joining me now is a person Mejia will be facing in the special election, the general, in April, Republican Joe Hathaway, former mayor, current councilman over in Randolph. Thanks so much for being here. Eric, thanks for having me. OK, so listen, you were the lone Republican and you were going up. You had 11 Democrats in the in the in their primary here in what was once a red district. What is it that you want the voters to know about you and how you compare to Anna Lilia? Sure, well, Eric, look, since day one of this race, right, we've gotten in because I'm a mayor, but I'm also a young dad, and I see what a lot of young people in this district are dealing with when it comes to affordability who have completely lost faith in our government and our elected officials to actually get anything done. Well, I believe we can show them that government can work for people just like we've done at the local level in Randolph, when you have someone who's willing to go down to Washington to be a workhorse to put results ahead of the rhetoric. And get things done for people just like we do at the local level, um, but really when you look at what happened at the Democratic primary and how the Democratic Party has selected a radical anti-Semitic socialist to represent them in this race, uh, the stakes have changed. The mission was just elevated because right now this has become much less about Republican and Democrat politics as usual. This is about preserving American values. Against someone who represents the fringe anti-Semitic rhetoric of her party, Anna Lily Mejia's policies are going to make our district less safe. They're going to make it less affordable, and they're going to demonize and ostracize our Jewish community, and this district won't stand for it. I was going to ask you because in your immediate statement after her victory, you also then referred to her as anti-Semitic. What is the source of that? Well, so it's, it's her own words, Eric. It's, it's lying his own words, her own messages on social media, and her own steps taken to raise her hand when every single one of her Democratic colleagues didn't when asked if Israel's committing genocide in Gaza. But I can tell you, if you go back a couple of years to October 7th, 2023, I remember a few days after the attacks, I was in a synagogue in Randolph with about 100 Jewish families in our community. Moms and dads who are afraid, who are crying, who are angry. Anna Lilia Mejia at the same time was on Twitter attacking Israel in the aftermath of these Hamas terror attacks, not Hamas. That's something voters need to know. Joe, let's talk a little bit more about her politics because she has been dubbed by some as a Mamdani style politician here and perhaps a future member of the squad if she's elected. Based on what the makeup of the district is. Do you think that a progressive is right for the district? No, not at all. I mean, listen, I think her policies are completely out of touch with where this district is, uh, in terms of our beliefs. And look, once again, you're, you're dealing with a situation where we have the ideological view of socialism versus the dire policy impact, and we can see it. You mentioned Zora Mandami and what's going on in New York City right now. I mean, listen, people are, people are freezing in the streets. Homeless people are freezing to death in the streets of New York. In Jersey City with a now socialist mayor, they're on the brink of financial. Collapse. These are the impacts of these policies. Her economic policies. She says she's for the middle class and working class in this district. Her policies will crush the working class with more taxes, with more of a burden, when we need to be lessening that burden if we're going to ever drive affordability in New Jersey. She wants to abolish ICE. What is your stance on the ICE enforcements that have been conducted in New Jersey and furthermore on the governor's executive orders this week? Yeah, listen, look, serving as a mayor, I know what our local PD can do and what the role of our local PD is. I think they need to be more engaged, um, where we're at, and look, I've, I've been clear on this, I think we absolutely can reform some of the ways ICE operates, some of the way they communicate, or maybe don't communicate right with things like better training, with better technology, with de-escalation, but there's a role to play for our. Local law enforcement as well. Currently in New Jersey, they have no ability to communicate, to know what's going on, so they can't keep our people safe because people do have a right to peacefully protest as well. We have to be able to do both of these things at once. Anna Lilia Mejia's position on anything related to ICE, related to law enforcement is just defund the police. That's what her organization has said from day one. She wants to defund police at the federal level, at the state level, at the local level. Parents, young people who come to this district do not want their streets to be dangerous and less protected by the police. We want to support our local law enforcement. She stands against that, and that's bad for this district. Are you surprised that the district didn't vote for a more moderate Democrat in that primary? I'm not. I mean, that's, that's, you know, the way we see a lot of these primaries go, right, especially on this side when you have that many candidates running, uh, the far fringe of the party is what won here. And look, we've been saying from day one that this race is a choice for voters between what kind of future they want. Do they want common sense, practical, hardworking leadership that is going to. Make government work better and then get out of the way so people can be successful again and reach that dream, or do they want someone who represents the furthest fringe of the Democratic Party which is moving towards socialism, moving towards anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement? Voters have a very clear choice on April 16th, and I think in this district they're gonna choose common sense every time. Can you win this based on the groundswell of support that she had in this primary? Yes, we absolutely can win this because again, listen, what you're talking about with this race was, was a minority of her party that was able to get enough votes to get over the edge. But as more people see what she stands for, as more people see that her policies on law enforcement are going to make our streets less safe, if they see that her policies on the economy. That pushing socialized Medicare and socialized education is only going to burden our middle class more. When they see her policies and her ostracization of a Jewish community, they won't stand for that. They'll choose a common sense Republican every time over that radical rhetoric. Joe Hathaway, Republican candidate for District 11, the. general election is coming up April 16th, so I'm sure we'll be talking more about this, quite a bit more about this in the next month or so. Joe, it's really nice to have you here in the studio. Thanks, Eric. I really appreciate it and keep it right here on Power and Politics. We've got much more coming up for you. Things got very heated at the state house this week. More on that right after the break.

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Welcome back to New Jersey Power and Politics. Fireworks in the state assembly centered around a Democrat-backed bill to ban law enforcement of all levels, including immigration agents, from wearing masks. Assemblyman Paul Knitra argued that the bill ignores threats made against federal officers who weren't wearing masks. Federal law enforcement officers are facing an 8,000% increase, 8,000% increase in death threats, and a more than 1,300% increase in assaults on them. The voicemails are disgusting. If you've ever looked at any of these voicemails that the ICE officers have to face. You are an effing fascist pig. You should effing kill yourself. Cannitra goes on to make reference to the recent shooting involving ICE agents in Roxbury Township. According to the Department of Homeland Security, agents were attempting to arrest Jesus Fabian Lopez Banegas, a man from Honduras who they say has a criminal history of drug trafficking and drug possession. DHS says that he slammed his car into a law enforcement vehicle trying to run over an officer. The officer shot out Lopez Benega's tires to stop him. He was taken into ICE custody and no injuries were reported. Now Knitra also referenced the rising tensions in Minneapolis. Committee Chairman Assemblyman Joe Danielson stepped in, telling Knitra to stay on the bill, and that that's when things got heated. I'm cutting you off at this point because you're off the bill. So I am not off the bill, Mr. Chairman. I am not off the bill. You are trying to take the masks off of federal law enforcement whose lives are in danger because of the loony individuals, some of whom are in this crowd today, who want to ruin their lives for doing their job. Mr. Khani, you are out of order and you're done. Your commentary is done. Hey, fun fact, this bill does nothing because there's so many exemptions in it anyway. Mr. Khanitra, you're out of order. You are done. Got very heated. The bill will now move to the full assembly for a potential vote. We, of course, will keep you updated right here on Power and Politics. And that'll do it for this week's show. I'm Eric Landskronner. As always, we thank you for watching New Jersey Power and Politics here on News 12 New Jersey. We'll see you again next time.

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