New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman won't seek reelection in 2026

Mary Ellen McIntire, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 10, 2025

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WASHINGTON — New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced Monday that she won’t run for reelection next year, opening up a safe Democratic seat that includes Trenton and Princeton.

“I made a commitment years ago to always lead the charge on behalf of those I represent, and I believe I have fulfilled that commitment to the very best of my abilities,” Watson Coleman, 80, said in a statement. “I also believe now is the time to pass the torch to the next leader who will continue leading this charge.”

Her announcement comes after New Jersey Democrats posted a strong performance in last week’s off-year elections, with Watson Coleman’s House colleague Mikie Sherrill winning the governor’s race.

It also follows former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement Thursday that she won’t seek another term, bringing to an end the California Democrat’s nearly 40-year career. With Democrats grappling over questions around aging members, several other senior lawmakers are either not seeking reelection or face primary challengers.

Currently in her sixth term representing New Jersey’s 12th District, Watson Coleman has had a long presence in Garden State politics. Before coming to Congress, she served 17 years in the New Jersey General Assembly, where she focused on criminal justice issues and rose to become the chamber’s first Black majority leader. She is also a past chair of the New Jersey Democratic Party.

In 2014, Watson Coleman became the first Black woman elected to represent New Jersey in Congress, succeeding Democrat Rush D. Holt. She has been easily reelected since.

An appropriator, she has long focused on mental health and women’s health care, including Black women’s health issues, as well as on the transportation funding needs of her Central Jersey district.

She has cited her own personal battle with cancer — she had a cancerous tumor removed from her lung in 2018 — as a driving force behind her interest in health care.

In 2016, she joined with fellow Democratic Reps. Robin Kelly of Illinois and Yvette D. Clarke of New York to establish the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, which focuses on issues affecting Black women, such as higher maternal mortality rates and wage gaps.

In July 2022, she was one of 17 members of Congress arrested for protesting the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion.

She has also regularly introduced legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on a person’s hair if it is commonly associated with a race or national origin. Popularly known as the CROWN Act, the measure passed the House in 2022, when Democrats were in the majority, but stalled in the Senate.

A crowded Democratic primary is likely to emerge in the race to succeed Watson Coleman in the 12th District. Democrats would be strongly favored to hold the seat given its blue tilt — Kamala Harris carried the district by more than 30 points, according to calculations by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.

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(Jackie Wang contributed to this report.)