In New Jersey’s 12th Congressional district, Dr. Adam Hamawy is bringing a national profile and the support of a sitting senator to the race, which could make the difference in a crowded Democratic primary. New Jersey’s 12th district, currently represented by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., who is retiring after this current term, is among the safest of safe blue districts, which stretches across a patch of the state southwest of Newark. Watson Coleman carried the district by about 25 points in 2024.
This means that whoever wins the Democratic nomination is more than likely to carry the November election, a dynamic that has already drawn more than a dozen candidates into the primary. While Hamawy isn’t the only progressive in the race, he has gained an early edge with fundraising, volunteers and the support of Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., whose life he actually saved after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004.
