With a Bonnie Watson Coleman for Congress poster behind her, Shanel Robinson touts her military experience and pledge to fight gridlock in Washington in her first TV ad in her bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th district.
The ad, “The Mission Is Necessary,” began airing over Memorial Day weekend with a cable TV and digital buy. Robinson, a three-term Somerset County Commissioner and U.S. Air Force veteran, speaks directly to the camera in her bid to succeed Watson Coleman, who is retiring after six terms in Congress.
The campaign has put $30,000 behind the cable buy.
Robinson’s ad includes photos of her in her Air Force uniform, an image of a fighter jet, and footage of the front door of her county office.
Script: “Some people look at Washington and see gridlock. I see a mission that’s lost its way. I approach governing the way I was taught in the military, focused on the mission, from neighborhoods yearning for greater investment to families burdened by the rising cost of just living. I meet people who remind me exactly why I’m running, because this isn’t hard work, it’s heart work. I’m Shanel Robinson, and I’m running for Congress because this mission isn’t impossible. It’s necessary.”
In a safe Democratic district that Kamala Harris carried by 24 points in 2024, the race is likely to be decided in the Democratic primary. Robinson faces eleven primary opponents: Sue Altman, Andy Kim’s former state director and the ex-New Jersey Working Families state director; East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen; Adam Hamawy, a practicing physician and retired U.S. Army combat surgeon; Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp; attorney and entrepreneur; Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton); Squire Servance; former Biden White House staffer Jay Vaingankar; Princeton University professor Sam Wang; former Middlesex Borough Councilman Matt Adams; and newcomers Kyle Little and Sujit Singh. Another candidate, Eliah Dixon, dropped out and endorsed Hamawy, but his name remains on the ballot.