East Brunswick mayor will run to succeed Watson Coleman

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) announced her retirement from Congress barely three hours ago, but one notable local Democrat is already saying he’ll run to succeed her.

East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen announced this afternoon that he will run in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, making him the first – but undoubtedly not the last – Democrat to join the fast-developing race.

“Americans can’t afford leaders who capitulate,” Cohen said in a statement. “Democrats can fight and win – just like we did in New Jersey and just as Democrats did from coast to coast on Tuesday. I am running to be a fighter for Central Jersey and to ensure that we don’t just give floor speeches but win real policy victories for our residents.”

Cohen used his announcement to criticize the handful of Senate Democrats who made a deal last night to reopen the government; Watson Coleman strongly opposes the deal, as does Cohen.

“More than ever, Democrats are looking for fighters who will not bend the knee to Donald Trump,” he said. “Unfortunately, as we just saw over the last 24 hours, too many Washington Democrats live in fear of losing their seats, access, or funding to do the right thing. They have failed to stand up for the values that define our party and our cause.”

Watson Coleman has represented the 12th district, a deep-blue, majority-minority Central Jersey district that spans four counties, since 2015. At 80 years old, there had been speculation for years about what would happen when the storied congresswoman retired, but she insisted that she was running for re-election to a seventh term next year – until her announcement this morning.

Dozens of local Democrats from all different corners of the district are thinking of running to succeed her, and Cohen has the jump on nearly all of them; Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson (D-Franklin) also launched a campaign today. Cohen hails from Middlesex County, by far the district’s most vote-rich county, and East Brunswick is one of the county’s largest towns; other Middlesex candidates may enter the race as well, however, and it’s far too early to say who might get support from the powerful local Democratic organization.

A former school board member and a gynecologist by profession, Cohen was first elected mayor in 2016, defeating a Republican councilman in a competitive and closely watched race. (That councilman later defected to the Democrats, giving Cohen a council majority.) He was re-elected by wide margins in both 2020 and 2024.

Cohen has tussled with Watson Coleman in the past, publicly criticizing her in 2019 for voting against a resolution that condemned the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement; Cohen said at the time that Watson Coleman’s Israel-skeptic views, which have only grown more pronounced since the war in Gaza began, “do not represent me, Democrats in our district, or Democrats as a whole.”

But Cohen also defended Watson Coleman in 2020, after her primary opponent spread a fake anti-semitic email claiming to be from her campaign. In his announcement today, Cohen had nothing but kind words for the retiring congresswoman.

“Central Jersey has been blessed to have a congresswoman in Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman who has never shied away from a fight,” he said. “As her constituent, I am so grateful to her for her years of service and intend to ensure that the fight for democracy that she has waged so strongly continues.”