MILLBURN - Tom Malinowski began with a joke.

"You can take Millburn from Malinowski, but you can't take Malinowski from Millburn."

He said that standing on a chair in a deli surrounded by about 60 or so supporters. Not a bad crowd for a Thursday morning.

Malinowski served two terms in the House representing CD-7 a bit to the west.

Now, he's running in CD-11 where a special election will be held - date unknown - to replace Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who just got another job.

His attempt at humor actually addressed a real issue. At the moment, he does not live in CD-11, which includes parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties.

But he did represent Millburn when he served in Congress from January, 2019 to January, 2023. At the time, Millburn was part of CD-7.

But when congressional districts were remapped after the 2020 Census, Millburn was moved into CD-11.

So even though he may be new to CD-11, he knows a lot about Millburn.

In fact, he talked about having a sandwich at the Millburn Deli about a hundred times and more seriously, seeking help for the town when it suffered heavy flood damage from Hurricane Ida.

The issues of Congress, he said, are national in scope. So an actual address may not mean all that much. Still, he said he plans to move to CD-11 in time to vote in the primary.

When will that be?

Who knows?

Sherrill has to formally resign. The primary will then be held between 70 and 76 days after that.  A special general election will then be held within a maximum of 70 days after the primary.  Phil Murphy, who will still be governor until mid-January, will set the primary date and get the ball rolling.

Malinowski, who now lives in Ringoes, says he held 140 "town hall" meetings while in Congress.

So it was no surprise he held a town hall of sorts today - answering questions for about 30 minutes.

Loyal Democrats are still on a high following Sherrill's win and the mood was obvious - let's keep it going.

Malinowski suggested that the Dems' success up and down the ballot on Tuesday shows they got support from unaffiliated and even Republican voters.

He reasoned that more and more voters are moving away from Trump's MAGA base.

He pointed to high prices because of tariffs, tax breaks for the super rich and ICE raids by masked agents. And then there are such things as tearing down part of the White House to make a ballroom.

'This isn't right. This isn't normal. Things have gone too far," he said.

Chances are all Democrats seeking this seat will agree with him. So, the primary likely will turn on political alliances and other factors.

Malinowski says his advantage is that he has served in Congress and that he is "battle-tested."  All his CD-7 races - two he won and one he lost - have been pricey and, at times, nasty affairs.

Still, why not run again against Tom Kean Jr. in CD-7?

Malinowski said there already is a good field of Democrats in that race and because of the special election, there is a greater urgency to run in CD-11.

The official announcement: