The Hathaway
Record

The Facts

First of all, Abdul El-Sayed is a doctor with degrees from the University of Michigan and Oriel College, Oxford, on a full tuition scholarship and a Rhodes scholarship. He ha a medical degree from Columbia University and was an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia. He holds a bachelors degree from Michigan, has an MA and Doctor of Philosophy from Oriel College, Oxford, and has a Doctor of Medicine from Columbia.

Dr. El-Sayed supports Medicare for All. Republicans, particularly those who work in PR for the healthcare industry like Joe Hathaway, love to frame this as "government rationed healthcare". It's not. In fact, he specifically states he does not oppose private insurance through unions or employers.

The six planks from his book, Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide are:
Universal coverage. M4A guarantees health coverage to every American.
Comprehensive coverage. M4A guarantees that Americans’ health coverage is comprehensive in terms of the range of covered benefits, the availability of a wide range of clinicians and hospitals, and minimal or no financial barriers to receiving care.
Pricing power. M4A can wield considerable negotiating leverage to rein in the cost of drugs, hospital stays, and physician services.
Administrative efficiency. M4A eliminates the high overhead costs of private insurance companies and reduces the administrative burden on providers and patients.
Progressive financing. M4A allows healthcare to be financed progressively, replacing the regressive financing of private insurance.
Public accountability. M4A would be accountable to the American public, rather than shareholders.

Joe claims El-Sayed is "anti-cop". Of course, Joe provides no evidence for this claim. Joe is no doubt relying on claims from the United Democracy Project, and AIPAC affiliated super PAC, which has spent $15 million opposing El-Sayed.

Here's what El-Sayed actually said:
“I believe we need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets, and investing more in the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty.”

And finally, Joe's claim about Dr. El-Sayed being anti-Israel. Dr. El-Sayed has been critical of Israel's government and military actions and has described the Gaza war as a genocide. He supports cutting off military aid to Israel, which is actually required by US law. I guess Joe supports genocide if he thinks these comments are anti-Israel?

Medicare for All – the Path to A Healthier America

El-Sayed and Johnson: A citizen’s guide to Medicare for All

Fact check: Abdul El-Sayed’s record on defund the police; Republican meddling

Fact-checking Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens' claims ahead of the Michigan Democratic Senate primary

The Facts

It wasn't even 9am and Joe Hathaway is out here lying.

Mejia did vote against HR 7008. But, that's because Republicans inserted the SAVE Act into the Stop Insider Trading Act (SITA).

Section 3 of the bill is where the SAVE Act was inserted.

There are lots of issues with SITA. Not the least of which is it doesn't require divestment.

And, the SAVE Act creates new rules for mail-in ballots. You have to provide a copy of your ID, OR you can get a signed affidavit, OR, you can get your ballot notarized, your secret ballot has to be notarized.

Republicans deliberately added the SAVE Act to SITA to allow people like Joe Hathaway to make disingenuous arguments when Democrats voted against it.

H.R. 7008 Stop Insider Trading Act

The Facts

The $25 minimum wage would not "quadruple labor costs". The current federal minimum wage, if indexed to inflation since 2009 (when it was last increased) would be just shy of $12. That's where the Living Wage for All bill starts. From there increases in the first five years bring the minimum wage up to $20 and from there on it's basically indexed to inflation. Maybe Joe doesn't know what quadruple means.

Mejia called for the impeachment of Thomas and Alito. Thomas failed to disclose gifts from individuals with business before the court, failed to disclose property transactions, and failed to recuse himself from cases involving Jan 6 an event his wife attended. Ginni was also in communication with John Eastman regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Alito also failed to disclose financail transactions and gifts and had flags on his property indicating support for Jan 6.

Mejia spoke at Delaney Hall but hardly "started the chaos". Protests began in May 22. Mejia showed up on June 1 along with Frank Pallone to inspect the facilities following numerous complaints. I suppose Joe doesn't care about civil rights.

Mejia voted against KOSA which has numerous issues, not the least of which was concern about vague "duty of care" which permitted the government to censor legal online speech.

And finally, the Stop Insider Trading Act. The act was neither a total ban nor required divestiture. But, more importantly, the SAVE Act was attached to the bill to allow people like Joe to use this disingenuous line of attack.

Living Wage for All Act

Ocasio-Cortez Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Justice Thomas and Justice Alito

Censorship Does Not Keep Kids Safe

Rep. McCollum Statement Opposing H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act

The Facts

New Jersey's minimum wage is currently $15.92/hr and is already indexed to inflation.

The $25 minimum wage from the Living Wage for All Act would be implemented over the course of 12 years for small businesses. The bulk of the increase occurs over the first five years with the federal hourly wage increasing from $7.25 to $20 by year five. After year five, the annual increase is slightly less than 3% per year, or roughly inflation. That means the $25 minimum wage is really a $20 wage indexed to inflation.

More importantly, for NJ small businesses the federal minimum wage won't exceed the NJ minimum wage four years. And, even after the 12th year, the federal minimum wage would only exceed NJ's minimum wage by $3.59. So, New Jersey small businesses have to find an additional $3.59 per hour per employee over the next 12 years, or an increase of $0.30 per year above the current indexed rate.

Joe likes to act like the $25 minimum wage is going into effect on day one and that the additional $9.08/hr will crush small businesses in NJ. Except, that's simply not the case. And once again, Joe is lying.

New Jersey’s Minimum Wage to Increase to $15.92/Hour for Most Employees on Jan. 1

Living Wage for All Act

The Facts

The Biden Administration didn't estimate that U.S. energy demand was going to triple in 25 years. Joe even shows an article with the actual facts. The Biden Administration proposed to triple nuclear energy over the next 25 years. Nuclear accounts for approximately 25% of total US electricity production.

The Biden Administration made this pledge as part of COP28 to reduce green house gases and limit climate change.

The US is currently energy independent, and would have been more so if Trump hadn't cancelled clean energy grants solely on the political identity of the grantee's state.

First, the US wouldn't use LNG for energy production. Natural gas is stored in liquid form for long term storage or transport. And second, it's hardly a clean source of electricity. It's cleaner than coal, but produces 10x the amount of CO2 per kWh as solar.

And finally, The idea that solar and wind aren't sufficiently cost effective compared to nuclear just isn't true. Nuclear costs $140-$220 per MWh for new construction compared to $40-$78 per MWh for solar and $27-$86 for wind.

More importantly, the US can easily accommodate future energy demand over the next 25 years (approximately 322GW to 640GW of generation capacity) with wind and solar. In 2025 alone, China added 430GW of wind and solar generation capacity to its grid.

Biden administration sets plan to triple US nuclear energy capacity by 2050

At COP28, Countries Launch Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050, Recognizing the Key Role of Nuclear Energy in Reaching Net Zero

Trump administration admits grants for clean energy were canceled based on politics

China hits great green stride with renewables topping 60% in 2025

The Facts

While total trade between US and Israel is roughly $55 billion, the US has a net trade deficit with Israel of $7 billion.

USA Facts

Not supporting the State of Israel due to its actions against the Palestinians and now the Lebanese is not anti-semitic. More importantly, continuing to provide military aid to Israel violates US law.

The Leahy Laws: The cornerstone of U.S. human rights conditions. Under Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and 10 U.S.C. Section 362, the U.S. must vet specific foreign military and police units to prevent training or equipment from going to human rights abusers.

Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA): This statute broadly prohibits security assistance to any country whose government engages in a "consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights", though this is subject to presidential waiver for "extraordinary circumstances"

About the Leahy Law

10 U.S.C. Section 362

Human Rights and Security Assistance, Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, section 502B

The Facts

Joe was absent from the vote on March 3rd and didn't vote. And, the budget increase was 6.7%, not 8%.

Randolph Townchip Council Meeting Minutes March 3, 2026

The Facts

Joe ignores a real distinction political scientists draw: Democratic Socialists (in the U.S. context) generally advocate working within democratic elections and institutions, they aren't calling for one-party rule or abolishing elections. Conflating them with historical authoritarian socialist states is a common rhetorical move but not an accurate description of the platform of Sanders or Mejia.

Congresswoman Mejia at Netroots Nation

The Facts

Joe never provides any facts to backup his claims.

Joe has never explained what policies Mejia supports that are "socialist". Never. Mejia doesn't support taking over private enterprise. She supports a strong social safety net, universal healthcare, and a fair tax system.

Mejia's policies are not anti-Semitic. She has a long history of supporting the Jewish community and fighting against anti-Semitism. She is a critic of the actions of the State of Israel under Netanyahu, which is not anti-Semitic. She has also been a strong supporter of law enforcement and has worked to improve community-police relations. What she doesn't support is the militarization of police and the use of excessive force. She has also been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform, which includes holding law enforcement accountable for their actions.

And, why did the sitting leader of the Hispanic caucus lose? Because he received nearly $150,000 in donations from AIPAC. Goldman recieved nearly $200,000 from AIPAC. Clearly the individuals, including many in the Jewish community, in their districts felt their representative's continued support for Israel given Israel's history of human rights violations was not in their best interest.

Ultimately, Hathaway never seems to talk, in any detail, about his policies and how they would benefit the people of NJ11. Instead, he uses fear-mongering and lies to try to scare people into voting for him. This is not the behavior of a patriot. This is the behavior of a demagogue.

Rep. Dan Goldman OpenSecrets

Rep. Adriano Espaillat OpenSecrets

The Facts

In what seems to be a pattern for Hathaway, he omits all of the context. Here's what Mrs. Mejia said.

"But I will say I've been an organizer for 25 years, and I know what the assignment is. What we are trying to do is capture governing power. Governing power has three facets. One of them is to elect your people into office so that the decision makers are in alignment.. in alignment with our communities. But there are two other facets that we have to capture. The first one is we need to shape this narrative. We need to inject our theory of change. We need to be clear about who are the villains and what are our values. We have to do it consistently through multiple avenues because we have to cut through the noise. And then once we've been able to shape this narrative, we need to be more effective and intentional about our demands."

Of course, Hathaway ignores the history of the GOP since the 1980s which has only sought to 'capture government power' though not for the betterment of the people.

Congresswoman Mejia at Netroots Nation

The Facts

Opposing the Sharia-Free America Caucus does not mean Mejia supports Sharia Law. It simply doesn't logically follow.

The Sharia-Free America Caucus is a red herring. It opposes something that simply isn't happening. There is no push to create Sharia Law in America. The Caucus was founded by Keith Self and Chip Roy, two Republicans from Texas. Self has stated "Islam is a culture with a patina of religion" and argued that the religion's intent is to "dominate Western civilization".

Chip Roy took to X on March 29, 2026 posted "No more Muslims. No more criminals. No more Marxists."

Bills filed by members of the Sharia-Free America Caucus ultimately limit free speech, attack Muslims directly, threaten deportation based upon religious views, and are ultimately unconstitutional. Our Constitution already has protections to limit the intersection of Church and State. Groups like Sharia-Free America Caucus just seek to foment hate against the Muslim community. Using the government to single out a particular religion is antithetical to the principles the United States was founded on.

And, as usual, Joe doesn't bother to link to the actual letter Mejia signed onto.

Letter Condemning the Anti-Muslim Sharia Free Caucus

Source: Texas Republican Keith Self Delivers Anti-Islam Speech On House Floor →

Rep. Chip Roy on X

The Facts

During Abdel-Rahman’s trial, the defense called then-medical student Hamawy as a witness to contradict a federal informant’s claim that Abdel-Rahman encouraged the informant to kill then-Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

According to the transcript, "It was probably April of '93....He called me and he said he needed me to come up because he wanted me to translate something for him." Omar Abdel Rahman was not indicted until August 1993.

There is no evidence that Hamawy worked with Omar Abdel Rahman in any capacity subsequent to his indictment. And Rahman was not associated with the Benevolence International Foundation with which Hamawy worked for three weeks in '94 in Bosnia.

The association between BIF and al Qaeda was not made until 2002 when BIF was identified as a front for al Qaeda by the US Treasury.

Of course, Joe provides no sources for any of his claims, but many of these claims were initially found in FrontPage Magazine, a website affiliated with the anti-Islam David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Source: The history of Hamawy and The Blind Sheikh →

1995 Court Transcript UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. OMAR AHMAD ALI ABDEL RAHMAN

The Facts

Protecting in support of human rights is not 'political theater'. It's shameful that Joe has no interest in holding ICE accountable for the conditions at Delaney Hall. Joe's claim that this is all about the quality of food diminishes the suffering of individuals detained by ICE.

Joe refers to individuals detained by ICE as 'criminals' despite the lack of due process. Undocumented individuals aren't technically criminals because immigration is a civil matter.

There are reports of lack of access to medication, maggots in food, physical and verbal abuse.

ICE has denied access to members of Congress to inspect detention centers.

Some detainees were detained while working through the immigration system. And absent due process it is unclear whether or not these detainees have actually violated the law.

Source: Delaney Hall detainees decry inhumane conditions and no access to medications →

A Closer Look

Hathaway ignores the fact that Mejia participated in the Morris Plains Memorial Day parade and numerous other Memorial Day ceremonies throughout Morris County.

Joe was literally at one of the events Mejia attended.

"Watching the service from a few feet away was Randolph Councilman Joe Hathaway"

Source: Red, White and Blue brighten grey skies at 40th Morris Plains Memorial Day Parade →

A Closer Look

Hathaway leaves out critical details about the resolution. The resolution maligns "leftist activists and progressive politicians" and frames their position on funding police in a false light.

The bill states:

Whereas rhetoric and policies from leftist activists and progressive politicians seek to defund or dismantle local police departments undermine public safety and place both officers and the communities they serve at greater risk;

Whereas sanctuary city policies that restrict cooperation with Federal immigration authorities can compel local law enforcement agencies to divert already limited resources and actively encourage resentment toward local law enforcement;

It's no wonder 173 Democrats voted against it.

Source: H. Con. Res 96 →

A Closer Look

Hathaway misrepresents the position of the Working Families Party. Their platform states they want to "Repair Historic Harms and End Systemic Racism" by "eliminat[ing] restrictive local zoning rules that keep housing and schools segregated by race and class. Aid Black families, and other people of color harmed by redlining in buying homes."

Hathaway apparently doesn't understand the history of restrictive zoning laws. Restrictive, exclusionary zoning laws in New Jersey date back to the 1920s after explicit racial zoning was deemed unconstitutional in 1917. New Jersey has a history of using zoning to preclude access by lower-income families to affluent enclaves, like Randolph. This was literally the basis of NAACP v. Mount Laurel which resulted in the Mount Laurel doctrine.

"In Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Township of Mount Laurel, the Supreme Court of New Jersey dealt squarely with the decades-old judicial deference to local autonomy in land use controls and invalidated a municipality's exclusionary zoning practices. 15 The practices had the effect of excluding low and moderate income persons and racial minorities from residing in suburban municipalities."

Source: Working Families Party Charter →

Source: EXCLUSIONARY ZONING AND RACIAL SEGREGATION: A RECONSIDERATION OF THE MOUNT LAUREL DOCTRINE Bernard K. Ham →

A Closer Look

Hathaway frames his entire platform as "driving affordability." But the proposals beneath that don't expand access to those who currently can't afford it: new federal incentive programs to subsidize local property taxes for first-time homebuyers, and federal tax credits for childcare to reduce the cost of childcare.

Hathaway's proposals don't expand access to housing or childcare. They provide tax breaks to those who can already afford it. He claims "childcare is not a luxury" but his plan does nothing to reduce the cost of childcare for those who already cannot afford it or expand access to childcare to lower income families.

Source: Montclair Local →

A Closer Look

The 92% figure is real. The framing isn't. New Jersey's affordable housing obligations exist precisely because the state has a documented affordable housing shortage. When a prosperous suburb negotiates its share down by 92 percent, the underlying need does not disappear — it shifts to towns less able to absorb it.

Hathaway reduced affordable housing requirements in Randolph from over 300 to just 28 units over the next 10 years. That's housing that would be used by teachers, fireman, starting police officers, municipal workers among many others in his community.

Hathway received over $38,000 in donations, 8% of his total, from individuals associated with the real estate industry.

Source: Hathaway Campaign Website →

A Closer Look

"Putting the district first before his party" is a strong promise. The public record contains exactly one documented break with his party: criticism of the President's Gateway Tunnel funding freeze.

On every other major federal issue — tax policy, healthcare regulation, immigration enforcement, federal spending — Hathaway has either echoed the party line or stayed silent. One disagreement on one tunnel is not a track record of independence. It is a single data point, deployed in a district that requires more.

Source: Montclair Local →

A Closer Look

"Middlemen" in U.S. healthcare can mean pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, group purchasing organizations, Medicare Advantage plans, hospital administrators, drug wholesalers, or third-party administrators — each governed by different statutes, each with very different effects on consumer costs.

The campaign has not specified which. This matters: addressing PBMs requires entirely different legislation than restructuring Medicare Advantage, which is itself unrelated to insurer reform. Hathaway's professional background is in public relations for healthcare. Joe Weiss, the chair of Real Chemistry, recently explained his company was there to help the "industry tell its story better and in a way that helps them achieve their business goals." How can we trust Joe to fight for the people and not his former clients, and donors with ties to the healthcare industry.

Hathway received over $52,000 in donations, 10% of his total, from individuals associated with the healthcare industry, including two of his largest donors.

Source: Fox 5 NY →

Joe Weiss on Harmony Talk Podcast →

A Closer Look

This is a real disagreement with the President, on an issue that genuinely matters to NJ-11 commuters. Credit where due.

But it is also the only such disagreement Hathaway has publicly aired. The Gateway Tunnel is the safest possible place for a New Jersey Republican to break with Trump — every NJ politician of both parties is in the same position. The harder questions — tax policy, healthcare, regulatory rollbacks, judicial nominations — remain unanswered. One safe break does not establish independence.

Source: The Setonian →