The Hathaway
Record

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 →