The race for Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown)’s open House seat got a new Democratic contender today: Joe Cohn, a civil rights attorney and first-time political candidate from Burlington County.
“Washington is broken,” Cohn said in a statement. “Extremist politicians are seeking to polarize our nation, stoking the flames of phony culture wars, all while ignoring the critical work they were elected to do.”
Originally from Nevada, Cohn has lived in New Jersey since 2008 and is currently a resident of Lumberton in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He holds a top role at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free-speech group, and previously worked at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania over the course of his 20-year legal career.
With that background in mind, Cohn emphasized defending civil liberties and protecting democracy as the cornerstones of his campaign. Describing himself as “progressive where it’s productive, moderate where it matters,” Cohn said that he’ll work to find common ground and get things done in Congress.
“We’re at a perilous moment in our nation’s history,” Cohn said. “For the survival of our democracy, we can – and must – work across our differences to unite around protecting voting rights, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and civil liberties for all.”
Cohn joins a Democratic primary that already includes two formidable contenders, Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delran) and Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel). Conaway and Murphy are both longtime figures in Burlington County politics, and each has received key endorsements that signal that local Democrats are coalescing around them as their two main options.
But Cohn’s national connections through FIRE and the ACLU could help him fundraise and keep him in contention for the Democratic nomination. His campaign team includes Henry de Koninck and Matt Krayton, two talented Democratic strategists with long histories in New Jersey politics.
Kim, the 3rd district’s incumbent congressman, is departing this year to run for U.S. Senate. He first won the seat in 2018 by narrowly defeating a Republican incumbent, and won re-election 55%-44% in 2022 in a district that had been redrawn to be much more favorable for Democrats; the district is now based in Burlington County and also includes parts of Mercer and Monmouth Counties.
Two Republicans, Shirley Maia-Cusick and Gregory Sobocinski, are running to flip Kim’s seat this year. But whoever wins the district’s Democratic nomination – be it Cohn, Conaway, Murphy, or other possible contenders like Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello or Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) – will begin the general election with a large advantage.