Representative Mikie Sherrill, Democratic gubernatorial nominee for New Jersey, celebrates her victory during an election night event in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"I’m running to deliver again what New Jerseyans need — better and lower cost health care, housing, and transportation — and to take on Trump’s corruption, abuse of power, and attacks on democracy. I will be ready for the fight from day one," Malinowski said in his campaign launch video.
Former Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey is launching a political comeback, as he declared his candidacy in the 2026 special election for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill's soon-to-be open seat in the Garden State's 11th Congressional District. (Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
Malinowski was first elected New Jersey Senate Republican leader Thomas Kean Jr. But in 2022, he lost a rematch with Kean by nearly two points.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the campaign arm of the House GOP, criticized Malinowski as he entered the race.
"Out of touch Democrat Tom Malinowski wants his D.C. gig back so he can return to getting rich off insider trading," NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O'Toole told Fox News Digital as she pointed back to a House Ethics Committee investigation into the then-congressman over failure to report stock trades.
And O'Toole charged that Mainowski is "still the same slimy, corrupt hack who New Jerseyans fired three years ago."
Now-Gov.-elect Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey exits a voting booth after casting her ballot on Election Day in Montclair, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser / Fox News Digital)
Malinowski joins a growing field of Democrats aiming to succeed Sherrill in the northern New Jersey-based 11th District.
Sherrill flipped the district in her 2018 victory, and won re-election by 6 points two years later. But she comfortably won re-election in 2022 and last year by double digits.
