By Louise Witt
Hours after Donald Trump threatened Iran with devastation, Democratic candidate Analilia Mejia stood before a packed hall in Chatham Borough on Monday and posed a question she said would define the 11th District race for Congress:
“How do we understand the moment, so that we are informed voters, active participants in protecting our democracy?”
At a town hall with Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and former New Jersey congressman Tom Malinowski, Mejia and her allies argued that a Democrat-led Congress must reclaim its constitutional authority—particularly over war powers—as voters in the district head toward an April 16 special election.
WAR POWERS AND THE CONSTITUTION
Raskin, a constitutional law professor before becoming a five-term representative, said the U.S. and Israel war against Iran shows the dangers of unchecked presidential power.
“Our current experience with an unauthorized, undeclared, unilateral presidential war of choice is emblematic of what we are suffering from across the board, which is an absolute destruction of the congressional role and the separation of powers,” said Raskin, the lead impeachment manager for the second impeachment of President Trump in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Raskin pointed to Article One of the Constitution, which gives Congress—not the president—the authority to declare war, control spending and set national priorities.
“We are going to turn this thing around by making Congress the predominant branch, as James Madison said it would be,” he said. Madison, he added, considered the power to declare war as the most important role of Congress.
“Why? Because the kings were always plunging their countries into wars of conceit and vanity, imperial design and avarice,” he said.
Hours earlier, Trump had warned Iran that failure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could trigger destruction so severe “it will take them 100 years to rebuild.” Meanwhile, Raskin said the conflict is costing the U.S. between $1 billion and $2 billion a day.
The Trump administration last week proposed a record $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027, while planning cuts to domestic programs.
NJ-11 RACE TAKES SHAPE
Mejia faces Joe Hathaway, a Randolph councilman and former mayor, in the special election to fill the unexpired term of Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Mejia won a crowded February primary, edging Malinowski by a little more than 1,000 votes.
In a heated debate last week, Hathaway attacked Mejia as a left-wing, radical socialist whose progressive ideas “are completely out of touch with everyday people in this district.”
Mejia countered that Hathaway would “vote in lockstep with the very same people who are making your daily life increasingly unaffordable, and have thrown us into a reckless war.”
A GBAO Strategies poll conducted March 8-10 shows Mejia, a labor organizer and director of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, leading Hathaway by 17 points, 53 percent to 36 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
GLOBAL ALLIANCES AND U.S. STANDING
Malinowski, who served as Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration, warned that Trump’s foreign policy is straining long-standing alliances such as NATO.
He contrasted U.S. alliances with those of geopolitical rivals.
“How many does China have? Zero. How many countries want to be allies of Russia? Zero,” Malinowski said. “Everybody that is a democracy, at least, wanted to be an ally of the United States. Who would follow Donald Trump to battle? We are seeing that today.”
NATO countries so far have rebuffed Trump’s call to have them help open up the Strait of Hormuz.
MONEY, TECH AND ELECTION INFLUENCE
Mejia raised the issue of outside spending in elections, asking how candidates can counter large infusions of money.
Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show the United Democracy Project, a Political Action Committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent $2.3 million against Malinowski in the February primary.
“Right now, there are three horsemen of the apocalypse that are trying to interfere in Democratic primaries across the country: AIPAC, AI companies and crypto companies,” Malinowski said.
He warned that fear of massive spending is deterring lawmakers from regulating emerging technologies.
“Members of Congress…are terrified to vote to regulate this industry because they are afraid these groups will drop $5 million or $10 million in their primary in a way no candidate can respond.”
ISRAEL, DEMOCRACY AND PARTY DIVIDES
In their debate, Hathaway accused Mejia of being anti-Israel for opposing the Israeli devastation of Gaza.
Mejia countered by saying:
“I stand by the fact that I’ve called Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal. I believe that criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration is not anti-Israel any more than criticism of Donald Trump is anti-American.”
Malinowski acknowledged differences with Mejia over Israel, but said support for Israel should not preclude criticism of its government.
“I don’t know any way that commitment can be sustained over time…if the definition of being pro-Israel doesn’t allow people of good conscience…to take issue with actions of the current Israeli government,” Malinowski said.
VOTING RIGHTS AND ‘SAVE AMERICA ACT’
Mejia criticized Trump’s proposed Save America Act, which would establish federal voter ID requirements, as an attempt to restrict voting.
“One of the ways to have that happen is to take over the Supreme Court,” she said. “The second way is state-sanctioned violence to get people afraid of participating, and the third way is curtailing the right to vote.”
Raskin called the proposal the “Save MAGA Act,” arguing it would disproportionately burden voters lacking identification — and roughly half of American women whose married names don’t match their birth certificates. He said voters will have to buy official identification from their states.
“That’s a poll tax,” Mejia said.
CALL TO ACTION: ‘BE BRAVE’
Raskin warned that threats to democratic institutions require action at every level of government.
“We are going to have to fight at the local level, the county level, the state level…in order to defend the integrity of the election,” he said.
“The best insurance against them coming close to stealing our election is a landslide victory for the Democrats.”
Malinowski agreed, closing with a quote from the late Sen. John McCain, a Republican and a war hero:
“The line is very simple: Be brave, the rest is easy.”
MORE COVERAGE OF THE DISTRICT 11 SPECIAL RACE
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BETWEEN RUN AWAY WARS THAT SERVE ISRAEL ON THE DIME OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER, TO THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND BORDER SECURITY ISSUE, THE AMERICAN CITIZEN TAX PAYER AND THEIR DESCENDANTS THAT FOUGHT FOR THIS NATION ARE BEING ABUSED AND NEGATED. OVER TAXED AND LOSING THEIR QUALITY OF LIFE THAT WAS EARNED.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS A WAR ON DOMESTIC HOMEFRONT, WARZONE IS AN ECONOMIC DEVASTATION ON THE DOMESTIC HOMEFRONT.
NEITHER PRESERVE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE, NOR SERVE IT.
BOTH ARE RUNNING INTERFERENCE AND FOOLISH VOTERS BETTER SEE THE LIGHT.
Have a delightfully ignorant day. AMERICAN taxpayers and citizens are being driven into modern slavery. MODERN slavery. Funding wars and social services for everyone other than themselves and their children