By Ryan Conway
Correspondent
Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has represented New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District since 2015, announced four months ago she would not seek reelection to her House seat in 2026.
Coleman, 81, made the announcement back in November. Elected in 2014, at the time she was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from New Jersey. She has been involved in Democratic Party circles long before that, serving as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly for 17 years and was the party’s majority leader from 2006 to 2010.
“I think it’s time for somebody else,” Watson Coleman told The Signal. “I think it’s time for an infusion of younger people. I still could do the job, but it’s not necessary for me to be the only one that can do the job.”
Coleman has been championed as a “progressive” and one of the more left-wing members of the House Democratic Caucus. In her first year of Congress, she introduced the Healthy MOM Act, which intended to improve maternal health by closing a loophole in the healthcare system that often prevents pregnant women from getting insurance coverage, and she reintroduced it this year.
In 2016, she founded the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, which aimed to focus on the welfare of African-American females. She’s long been a critic of Israel, boycotting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in 2015, and called for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel, while also calling Israel’s actions against Palestinians a “genocide.”
In 2019, Watson Coleman established an Emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide, and chaired it alongside the Congressional Black Caucus. The Congresswoman felt it was a problem being overlooked and was very proud to bring it to life, as it brought about the “Ring the Alarm” report in December that year.
“I worked with a bunch of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers to get at some of the issues and to recognize that mental health issues are very important and they were under-considered by the House of Representatives and government in general,” Watson Coleman said.
One of the Congresswoman’s most significant achievements was pushing for the Federal Railroad Administration to award $18 million in funds for the Trenton Transit Center, back in 2020. Improving public transit was a high priority for her.
“Getting people back and forth and getting more cars off the road is very important to me because I believe that our congestion is so fundamentally unhealthy in terms of the air that we’re breathing,” Watson Coleman said. “And I think this country is just so far behind on transportation of people, on trains and other kinds of collective modes.”
Her father, John Watson, had also served in the New Jersey General Assembly for 12 years. He passed away in 1996, less than two years before she was elected to the Assembly.
Despite her diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis in 2024, Watson Coleman remained very active not only in the House, but in fighting alongside her constituents.
In July 2022, Watson Coleman was arrested for protesting outside of the United States Supreme Court after the landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and denationalize abortion rights in the country.
In May 2025, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to file assault charges against her and two other Democratic representatives after a scuffle at an immigration detention facility, where Watson Coleman attempted to legally enter Delaney Hall, a building that was detaining immigrants.
Her district, NJ-12, spans much of Middlesex and Somerset counties, but as well as some towns in Mercer County, most notably Trenton, Pennington and Ewing. Watson Coleman has spent most of her life in the district she represents; she graduated from Ewing High School in 1963, and received a B.A. from Thomas Edison State University in 1985. Additionally, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from The College of New Jersey.
Having been in the community all these years, she has noticed one thing change for the better: The amount of students enrolling in colleges in the area.
“You all, you live in our communities, and we had to get to know and respect each other and respect the way we live in this community. It’s been healthy for both students and for the community,” she said.
Having to travel to Washington D.C. and back can be a taxing job. The Congresswoman drives down with her husband just about every other week, working long hours on behalf of her constituents, and at the end of the day there’s nothing she loves more than walking through the door and seeing her family.
“Family makes me feel very comfortable, very loved, and very well served in energizing me to go back to D.C. and fight to fight,” Watson Coleman said.
After a trailblazing career in public service, Watson Coleman now leaves some large shoes to fill as the 12th district’s representative. Sue Altman, formerly Senator Andy Kim’s state director, announced her candidacy on Feb. 3 to replace Watson Coleman.
Even as her days in public service are numbered, Watson Coleman remains active in Congress. On March 6, she introduced the Data Center Community Impact Act on the House floor. As artificial intelligence has surged across the globe, this act would launch a study on how data centers are impacting the environment, the economy and public health, while also being focused on low-income communities and those of color.
In this day of age, many people, especially younger people, feel that the U.S. is becoming increasingly less democratic and that their voices aren’t being heard. Ahead of midterm elections next fall, Watson Coleman left a strong parting message: “To hold your representatives accountable, even after electing them.”
“Voting is very important, but you just don’t vote behind someone being a Democrat or a Republican. You find out who you’re voting for, and what you can expect from that person. And once that person gets elected, you have to hold that person accountable,” Watson Coleman said, urging young people to be civically engaged for the future of the country.
“If we can’t count on young people to vote on some things that are really important to [them], whether it’s student debt relief or things of that nature, they don’t necessarily get the kind of priority that they would get knowing that we got to face every 18-year-old and above in this country voting, and voting out of their interest. I don’t care if you’re voting for school board, local, county, state or federal, that vote really counts, and showing up as citizens engaged and holding members accountable on every level is vitally important.”
