By 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill was no longer a member of the U.S. Congress and the clock started to fill her now vacant seat.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced the special election schedule last week: On Feb. 5, both parties will hold primaries to nominate Democratic and Republican candidates to be the next representative from New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, which spans parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties. The general election will follow on April 16.

Since it became clear that Sherrill wouldn’t be returning to Congress, the crop of Democrats throwing their hats into the ring has grown to the double digits. So far, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway is the only Republican to join the fray.

When Sherrill first won the seat in 2018, she bested her Republican challenger by more than 14 percentage points – a 37-point shift for Democrats that year. However, Sherrill’s rise in the district belied the seat’s long and reliably red history. Before her victory, Republicans held the district for 34 years.

These factors, coupled with the fact that the special election will ask voters to come to the polls in the offseason make this race an interesting test of who has momentum among New Jersey Democrats, coming off Sherrill’s big night in November.

The field

On the Democratic side, Gov. Phil Murphy’s former campaign manager, Brendan Gill, has racked up establishment endorsements including the chair of the NJ Democratic State Committee, Leroy Jones. Murphy also gave his stamp of approval to Gill, one of the top advisers on the outgoing governor’s first campaign in 2017, although that’s not necessarily a boon after first lady Tammy Murphy’s disastrous Senate run last year.

But Gill’s not the only one with deep party ties: former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski, who represented the neighboring 7th District, is also making a run for the seat. Malinowski received an endorsement this week from sitting U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who embarrassed the Murphys with his insurgent victory last year.

“ I'm the only one who has taken on Trump before successfully,” Malinowski said in an interview. “The only one with foreign policy experience and I think I can say the only one who would be battle ready the day that I'm elected.”

A cadre of outsiders is also looking to upset the establishments’ apple cart – like 25-year-old Mark Chaaban, the son of Lebanese immigrants who fled civil war in their home country in the 1980s for North Jersey.

“ First run for congress. First run for any elected office. And if elected, I believe I'll be the first member of Congress born in the 21st century,” Chaaban said in an interview.

He isn’t the only twenty-something vying for the seat. He is joined by Anna Lee Williams, who was the first candidate to announce back in July.

A number of local political figures are also putting their hands up, including Maplewood Township Committee member and former Mayor Dean Dafis who would be New Jersey’s first openly gay representative in Washington if elected. Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett, Chatham Borough Councilmember Justin Strickland and Morris Township Committee Member Jeff Grayzel are also running on the Democratic side.

Others joining the field include Obama White House alum Cammie Croft and former Army paratrooper turned venture capitalist Zach Beecher. Current Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way is also rumored to be considering a run.

The issues

Gothamist reached out to all the candidates in the race, asking: If you could pass just one piece of legislation in Washington, what would it be?

Several responded that they would act first to protect the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire later this year under President Donald Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’

The governor has indicated that the premiums for New Jerseyans who buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace could spike as much as 175%, with an average additional cost of $2,700 annually per person.

But the candidates also said doing something to reform ethics in Congress and protect Democratic institutions would be top of mind if they were elected.

“I would ban members of Congress from trading stocks. That would be my number one thing. I would co-sponsor that on day one,” Chaaban said. That’s an issue Malinowski has struggled with in the past.

John Bartlett, a voting rights lawyer in his day job, said protecting the democratic process would be number one on his list.

“Democracy and the right to vote and the equal opportunity we all have just to participate in the process is what drives all the other conversations around affordability, around making sure that federal funds keep coming into our region for the things that we need,” he said. “All of that is driven by voting rights and Trump and the MAGA Republicans have put those rights under real threat.”

The money

Not every candidate has announced their initial fundraising hauls as of yet. But the ones that have are boasting healthy, if unverified, numbers

Malinowski, who raised over $6 million the first time he ran for Congress in 2018, said he raised more than $500,000 the first week he announced.

Chaaban said he raised over $100,000 in one day after announcing his run. Beecher said he pulled in $225,000 in his first 36 hours. Like Malinowski, Bartlett said he also banked $500,000 in his first week in the race.