{"id":15488,"date":"2025-11-10T17:46:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/watson-coleman-to-retire-from-congress\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T17:46:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:46:41","slug":"watson-coleman-to-retire-from-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/watson-coleman-to-retire-from-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Watson Coleman to retire from Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Longtime Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced Monday that she is not running for reelection next year and will retire at the end of her term, saying that it is \u201ctime to pass the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 80-year-old has served New Jersey\u2019s 12th District since 2015, when she became the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in the House. Prior to her time in Congress, she was a member of the state Assembly, where she served as majority leader. Watson Coleman was also previously chair of the state Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made this decision with tremendous thought and reflection, and through many personal conversations with my husband Bill and my family,\u201d Watson Coleman said in a statement. \u201cI am confident it is the right choice for me and my family who have graciously sacrificed by my side when I placed serving our community above all else and I can truly say, I am at peace with my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson Coleman, a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in her retirement announcement touted her efforts to \u201cbuild an economy for all, reform our criminal justice system, achieve health equity, and eliminate poverty,\u201d and said she \u201cpray[s] our leaders advocate for a two-state solution that paves the way for peace, prosperity, and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.\u201d She called for lawmakers to \u201ccontinue to stand and fight against those who would target the vulnerable and attempt to harm our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Watson Coleman was one of three Democrats in the New Jersey Democratic delegation \u2014 along with Reps. Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver \u2014 who participated in a high-profile visit to Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention facility in Newark. Their visit turned into a chaotic scrum involving federal law enforcement. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge that was later dropped, and McIver was later accused of assaulting Homeland Security agents \u2014 though her trial, which was set to begin on Monday, has been delayed and she’s pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

NJ-12 is a safe Democratic seat that covers parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties.<\/p>\n

Prior to Watson Coleman announcing her retirement, just one other Democratic candidate filed with the Federal Election Commission for the seat: Kyle Little, a fitness studio owner who raised just over $10,000 since getting in the race over the summer.<\/p>\n

Other potential Democratic candidates to replace Watson Coleman include state Sen. Andrew Zwicker and Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello, Mercer County Commissioner Sam Frisby and East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, according to a Democratic official granted anonymity to discuss party positioning. Zwicker, who works at Princeton University\u2019s Plasma Physics Laboratory, is a protege of Watson Coleman\u2019s predecessor, former U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, who hired him at the lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my fervent hope that whoever is next elected to serve the people of the 12th Congressional District will be a public servant grounded in strong moral principles and an unabashed advocate in the United States Congress on behalf of those they have the privilege to represent,\u201d Watson Coleman said in her statement. \u201cI hope we will see, in this district and districts across the nation, representatives who, in the words of my dear former colleague and friend, Congressman John Lewis, stand ready to, \u2018Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.'”<\/p>\n

Matt Friedman contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced Monday that she is not running for reelection next year and will retire at the end of her term, saying that it is \u201ctime to pass the torch.\u201d The 80-year-old has served New Jersey\u2019s 12th District since 2015, when she became the first Black woman to represent New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}