TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The race in New Jersey between a onetime political director for Sen. Bernie Sanders and a former congressman was too early to call Thursday, in a special House Democratic primary for a seat that was vacated after Mikie Sherill was elected governor.
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski started election night with a significant lead over Analilia Mejia, based largely on early results from mail-in ballots. The margin narrowed as results from votes cast that day were tallied.
With more than 61,000 votes counted, Mejia led Malinowski by 486, or less than 1 percentage point.
All three counties in the district report some mail-in ballots yet to be processed. Also, mail-in ballots postmarked by election day can arrive as late as Wednesday and still be counted.
Malinowski did better than Mejia among the mail-in ballots already counted in all three counties, leaving the outcome of the race uncertain.
The Democratic winner will face Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who was unopposed in the Republican primary, on April 16.
Malinowski served two terms in the House before losing a bid for reelection in a different district in 2022. He had the endorsement of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim, who has built support among progressive groups.
Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance in the state and political director for Sanders during his 2020 presidential run, had the Vermont independent senator's endorsement as well as that of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York. She also worked in President Joe Biden's Labor Department as deputy director of the women’s bureau.
Both Malinowski and Mejia were well ahead of the next-closest candidates: Brendan Gill, an elected commissioner in Essex County who has close ties to former Gov. Phil Murphy; and Tahesha Way, who served as lieutenant governor and secretary of state for two terms under Murphy until last month.
The other candidates were John Bartlett, Zach Beecher, J-L Cauvin, Marc Chaaban, Cammie Croft, Dean Dafis, Jeff Grayzel, Justin Strickland and Anna Lee Williams.
The district covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey, including some of New York City's wealthier suburbs.
The special primary and April general election will determine who serves the remainder of Sherrill's term, which ends next January. There will be a regular primary in June and general election in November for the next two-year term.
Sherrill, also a Democrat, represented the district for four terms after her election in 2018. She won despite the region's historical loyalty to the GOP, a dynamic that began to shift during President Donald Trump's first term.
FILE - Analilia Mejia, center, speaks during a rally calling for SCOTUS ethics reform, May 2, 2023, in Washington. (Joy Asico/AP Images for Center for Popular Democracy Action, File)
FILE - Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski speaks during his election night party in Garwood, N.J., Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
FILE - New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill waves during her inauguration ceremony in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Firefighters entered a charred ferry in Philippine waters on Friday after a fire two nights earlier left five people dead and 84 missing and produced heat and smoke that prevented search and rescue efforts onboard.
Images released by the coast guard around midday showed three smaller boats near the MV June Aster, which appeared to have stopped emitting smoke as personnel walked on the outer portion of the ship.
Coast guard communications officer Joy Dianne Gumatay said Friday they had not received updates from the firefighting team about what was found inside, including whether there were additional fatalities.
The ferry sailed from the capital, Manila, on Wednesday evening and was around 7.4 kilometers (4.5 miles) off the village of Turda near its destination of Coron in Palawan province when the fire was reported.
Rescuers struggled to get inside the burning, smoking vessel Thursday to search for passengers who may been trapped. The efforts were halted overnight.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
The coast guard and other vessels have rescued 43 people, some plucked from the dark waters as the ferry burned.
“The fire quickly spread. That’s when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned,” survivor Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva said in a video broadcast by News5, adding that he jumped from a window. “I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic.”
The coast guard, other government agencies, private volunteers and fishermen searched the nearby waters and coastal patrols checked for people who may have drifted to shore but no new survivors or fatalities were found.
According to the manifest, 134 people were onboard, 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. The 53-meter (174-foot) vessel had a capacity to carry 306 passengers and 27 crew.
Two passengers listed in the manifest reported to authorities that they failed to board, bringing the number of missing to 84, the coast guard said.
Two of the survivors were tourists from Chile, according to Rachel Conserman, a staffer of the ship’s owner Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc. They are recovering from injuries in a hospital in Coron, she said, adding that there no other foreigners known to have been on the ship.
The shipping company said in a statement it was assisting those who were on board and their families while coordinating with the coast guard and maritime officials to locate the missing passengers and determine the cause.
Coron is a popular tourist destination known for clear blue waters, limestone cliffs and rock formations.
Ferries are frequently used for transport in the Philippine archipelago. Sea accidents are not uncommon due to storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
People prepare equipment to go out to sea from a pier in Turda, Palawan province, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, days after ferry MV June Aster caught fire. (AP Photo/Harly Clark Cachero)
In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, aerial survey is being conducted around ferry MV June Aster off Palawan province, western Philippines, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, days after it caught fire. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
This photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard shows the ferry MV June Aster off Palawan province, western Philippines, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, days after it caught fire. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, ferry MV June Aster smolders off Palawan province, western Philippines, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, days after it caught fire. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, ferry MV June Aster smolders off Palawan province, western Philippines, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, days after it caught fire. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
