The New York Post has a well-established reputation as a conservative voice in a mostly left-leaning city.

How much true influence its editorial page has across the Hudson is an open question. How about in just the parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties that are in CD-11?

Joe Hathaway has to hope the Post's influence goes pretty far.

His social media page on Monday is trumpeting the Post's endorsement of his candidacy in the April 16 special election.

Here's how the edit began:

"Suburban New Jersey voters face a clear choice in next month’s special election to replace now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill in the House: Unless they want a radical, antisemitic socialist representing them in Washington, they need to cast their ballots for sensible centrist Joe Hathaway, whom The Post strongly endorses today."

This is an opinion piece, not a straight news story. Still, the editorial repeats a line right from Hathaway's campaign page when it calls Democrat Analilia Mejia "a radical, antisemitic socialist."

And it mocks Mejia for referring to herself as a "soccer mom," which she did during a campaign appearance in Little Falls a bit more than a week ago. Hathaway has done that too.

The accusation that Mejia is "anti-Semitic" has been part of Hathaway's campaign since the beginning.

Mejia, for her part, is trying to dismiss it. After last week's terrorist attack on a synagogue in Michigan, she posted the following:

"Rising antisemitism is a serious threat, and we cannot normalize it. Across our nation and abroad, targeted violence has cost precious lives. While our hearts may be with families in West Bloomfield Township, our actions are what will counter hatred.
Congress must act to strengthen protections, fund hate crime prevention, and confront antisemitism wherever it appears. We have a role in confronting antisemitism at every turn, and that begins by building community instead of fomenting division and hate."

Mejia, who beat 10 others to win last month's Democratic primary, is on the offense as well.

Her point:

Hathaway is a "MAGA extremist."

The Mejia campaign most recently criticized Hathaway for appearing at an Italian-American group event with Joseph Belnome.

Belmome, who was in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, was the unsuccessful Republican candidate against Mikie Sherrill in 2024.

In fairness, politicians, especially candidates, meet a wide section of people while campaigning.

The winner of the special election will take Sherrill's seat just about immediately and serve through the end of the year.

But then, there will be the June primary and November election to fill the seat in the next Congress.

So the ongoing skirmishing is just the pre-game show.