"I was there when Trump unleashed his mob."

So says Tom Malinowski in his first ad - now on his Facebook page - of the truncated CD-11 campaign.
It's not hard to grasp Malinowski's strategy. He's the guy with congressional experience. After all, none of the other 11 candidates could say they were on the House floor on Jan, 6, 2021.

Also revealing is that the first line in the ad is not about health care or affordability, but Trump unleashing a "mob."

Mikie Sherrill won big - much bigger than expected - last month by trashing the president throughout her campaign and Malinowski must have been watching carefully. Clearly, he hopes to tap that same anger among Democrats.

Step back a bit and you realize how odd this is - a congressional campaign at Christmas time.

Undaunted by the holiday, Brendan Gill, another CD-11 candidate, had two "town hall" meetings scheduled over the weekend.

After one in Wayne on Saturday, he had this to say:

“I’m running for Congress because real change starts with listening. This community is smart, engaged, and full of ideas, and I want to make sure those ideas guide my work in Washington. People deserve a representative who is present, accountable, and fighting for them every single day. Hearing people’s stories allows us to turn them into action. The input I get here will shape the policies I fight for in Congress. I’m committed to being a voice for families, to making life more affordable, and to ensuring opportunity reaches everyone in NJ-11.”

Malinowski was recently endorsed by the Morris County Democratic Committee.

But not all Morris Dems are on board.

The Gill campaign was happy to trumpet an endorsement from Ben Weisman, a councilman in Boonton.

“Brendan Gill has been a visible and trusted presence in our community for years, long before he decided to run for Congress," is some of what Weisman said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Analilia Mejia campaign boasted of nearly 100 members of Make the Road Action NJ  braving the cold to rally and canvas for the candidate over the weekend in Bloomfield.

Said Mejia:

“I am not a politician, I am an organizer. I am not a candidate with the political machine. I am a candidate who has community, who has people, who understands that our people are tired of politicians who use their positions to enrich themselves. This is a moment in which we, the community, must take power. We will not settle.”

Not to be undone, Tahesha Way spent part of the weekend campaigning at the Swiss Chalet in Morristown, a well-known breakfast spot.