MADISON - Joe Hathaway is asking voters to just give him a look-see - as if they are buying a car.

"They can test drive a Republican if they want," he said Wednesday night after a "meet and greet" in this Morris County town. About 70 people attended.

By that intriguing analogy, he meant voters in CD-11 could support him in the April 16 special election and send him to Congress for the rest of the year. If they don't like the "ride," they can always vote him out in November.

Just a reminder. Next week's election will fill Mikie Sherrill's old House seat until the 2027 Congress begins. The November election will fill the seat beginning in 2027.

There was a very practical reason why Hathaway said what he did. The district leans Democratic registration wise by a bit more than 60,000 voters. So to win, Hathaway needs Democrats to vote for him. Thus, the line about giving him a "test drive."

To that end, Hathaway said he has made in-roads in such Democratic areas as Maplewood, Montclair and South Orange.

He spoke of town halls in those places with "not a Republican in sight."

The Democrats who showed up, he said, may indeed vote for him, simply because they see Analilia Mejia, the Democratic candidate, as too extreme.

This is Hathaway's central thesis. As a Bernie Sanders supporter, Mejia's views on health care, government spending and most of all Israel, are too liberal for a district that is mostly suburban and affluent. CD-11 covers parts of Essex, Passaic and Morris counties.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Hathaway said he thinks Jewish voters, especially, are wary of Mejia.

She has called Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal." But at the same time, she says she opposes anti-Semitism in the United States and as a minority herself, feels kinship with Jews who feel threatened.

Hathaway sees things differently.

He said that Mejia's anti-Israel rhetoric can put Jews in the district and state at risk, because it can encourage "maniacs" to do such things as throw Molotov cocktails though windows of synagogues.

During the meet and greet, Hathaway stressed that as a municipal official in Randolph, he knows how to solve mundane, but important, problems (think fixing a road) and working with all people.

He said that Mejia, who has no elected government experience, can't do that.

More broadly, Hathaway said this special election is more important than one district. Not only is it at the beginning of the midterm cycle, he said a win by a left winger like Mejia will be a troubling sign for the future.

Obviously, that makes it more urgent for Republicans to stop her.

In fact, he said that a GOP win next week in CD-11 would reverberate throughout the country.

Few would quibble with that assessment.,

Stll, the signs are not good for the GOP.

Democrats have done well nationwide in just about all recent elections and in CD-11, Dems lead in the mail-in and early voting by about 3-1. That means votes from registered Democrats exceed those from registered Republicans by that margin. A registered Democrat, of course, can vote Republican.

Asked about the mail-in data, Hathaway said:

"I think there's a ton of Democrats not going her way."