Lone Republican candidate finds his edge as a dozen Democrats clash in race to replace Mikie Sherrill

As the only Republican running to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, Randolph Township Mayor Joe Hathaway has the advantage of not needing to bump elbows in a 12-candidate field like his Democratic counterparts.

Sherrill’s gubernatorial win and subsequent resignation from Congress triggered a special election in the blue district. But as a dozen Democrats scramble for their party’s nomination, Hathaway told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that voters will turn to his candidacy to avoid what he referred to as the “chaotic mess” of the Democratic primary.

“The district is ready for a new generation of leadership,” Hathaway said. “That’s what I represent.”

Hathaway told Fox News Digital that New Jersey voters are tired of the political “spin” and “fighting” in Washington, D.C., pitching himself as the generational leader whom voters from across the political spectrum can look to for leadership.

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“People want someone who is going to put the political nonsense aside and get to work. That’s what I represent, so I think that is going to be an attractive offer for Republicans, for independents, for Democrats, for voters across the board,” Hathaway added.

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The Republican candidate pointed to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s success in neighboring New York City as an indication that “younger, more progressive leaders of their party [are] moving the Democratic Party toward socialism, toward anti-law enforcement, toward antisemitism, toward bigger government, a bigger system that is still broken.”

But Hathaway said that “centrist, moderate” Democratic voters and those of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District do not seek that future, drawing a “clear, stark contrast” with his own Republican campaign.

“At the end of the day, voters are going to have to make a decision between which next generation they want representing them,” he said. “I’m trying to represent the next generation of the Republican Party — one built on hard work, on pragmatic common sense solutions to help people to make life better.”

In The Garden State, Hathaway explained that the Democratic Party has been “driving the bus for a long, long time.” While Republicans made some inroads in New Jersey during the 2024 presidential election, New Jersey is widely considered a blue state, and Sherrill has kept its 11th Congressional District blue since 2018.

“We represent that opportunity for people to look into the future and see someone who grew up here, who has lived here, who knows the communities, who knows the small businesses, who knows each community individually and what brings them all together, and has some ideas and has some experience at the local level, making government work better for people here in Randolph,” Hathaway said.

As a 38-year-old father of three, Hathaway said young families and voters have become disillusioned by the American Dream, fighting to make ends meet and earn enough to make a living. The Randolph Township mayor said he jumped into the congressional race to bring a “workhorse mindset down to Washington” and deliver for the “hardworking people of this district.”

“Affordability is the major focus of our campaign,” Hathaway said. “It gets at the core of what we just talked about, the challenges that so many families face here in New Jersey.”

Specifically, Hathaway said he would support tax-elimination for first-time home-buyers because being able to afford a home and start a family is “really what the American Dream is all about at the end of the day.”

The Republican also committed to finding ways to “incentivize roles that equip workers for the jobs of today and for the jobs of tomorrow,” through vocational training and other “in-demand, highly valuable skills that don’t necessarily require all the student loan debt.”

“By the way, it’s probably going to be something you hear on the other side as well. But I think on the other side, their solutions are going to be more government, more dependency, more government, more, more of the same broken system, which I fundamentally disagree with, and I think most voters do, too,” he said.

The special primary election is set for Feb. 5, 2026, and the special general election will be held on April 16, 2026.

Next year’s midterm elections will serve as a litmus test of President Donald Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda and will determine whether Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate. New Jersey’s special election will be one of several pulse checks before November’s elections decide the congressional balance of power. 

When asked how Trump’s endorsement would play out in the Garden State, Hathaway said, “I want Republicans of all shapes, colors, sizes across the board. We’re a big-tent party, so we’re going to need all Republicans rowing in the same direction to win this seat and to win this special election on April 16th.”

But the Republican said his first priority is to represent the voters of his district. And while he applauded Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” for raising New Jersey’s State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap and increasing the childcare tax credits, Hathaway clarified that if “there are things that I don’t support that aren’t good for our district, I’ll come out and say that, too.”

The New Jersey Globe reported in July that a bipartisan group of 13 New Jersey representatives and senators sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, expressing “grave concern” over a proposed shake-up to Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, New Jersey.

“I know the administration is contemplating the idea of shuttering Picatinny Arsenal, a big military base here in our district here in Morris County. I vehemently disagree with that. I think that would be bad for our national defense. I think it would be bad for the thousands of citizen employees and contractors who work in the Picatinny Arsenal, who are creating the next generation of artillery and military intelligence materials,” he said.

Ultimately, Hathaway said he is committed to advocating for what’s best for the voters of his district, even if that means being at odds with the administration on a proposal or specific issue that impacts New Jersey.

“Our campaign is going to be something that is attractive to voters of all persuasions because of what we are representing, which is someone who is here to roll up their sleeves, do the work, who doesn’t really quite frankly care about what the political winds are swirling around. It’s about doing the job,” he said.

“I’m still a football player at heart. I’m still a nose guard at heart who just runs in the trenches and tries to make things happen and do the job, so that’s the kind of mentality I’m going to bring to the seat, and I think that’s something that, quite frankly, voters across the board want to see in their representative,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway was born and raised in New Jersey, where he currently serves as mayor of Randolph Township. He graduated from Yale University, where he played football and earned All-Ivy League honors. He began his political career as an aide to former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., and currently manages executive communications and operations in the healthcare industry.

Thirteen Democratic candidates qualified for the primary ballot in the race for Sherrill’s open congressional seat following her gubernatorial win. 

Marc Chaaban, a former congressional staffer for Sherrill, dropped out of the race earlier this week, bringing the tally as of Friday to 12 Democrats vying for the party’s nomination.