NJ-12: Plainfield housing policy researcher, democratic socialist will run for Watson Coleman's seat [View all]

ziah Thompson, a 32-year-old housing policy researcher and democratic socialist who served on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, has joined the packed Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing)’s open seat.

A resident of Plainfield, Thompson laid out an ambitious policy agenda in his campaign announcement last week that includes creating a nationwide public housing program, implementing Medicare for All, supporting the Green New Deal, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), embargoing arms shipments to Israel, and banning congressional stock trading.

The first-time candidate also contrasted his own unabashedly progressive stances with those of other Democrats in New Jersey and elsewhere, whom he criticized – albeit not by name – as ineffective and ill-equipped for the Trump era.

“After Donald Trump’s win, I met with House members asking what their plans were to fight against the administration’s worst policies,” Thompson said in his announcement. “One told me that they could ‘write a letter.’ New Jersey cannot replace Bonnie Watson Coleman, a progressive leader, with someone who will disappear into this broken system.”




https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/plainfield-housing-policy-researcher-democratic-socialist-will-run-for-watson-colemans-seat/