NJ-12: Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D), four-term Trenton lawmaker, will run for Congress
Pleading to fight Donald Trump, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, a four-term lawmaker from Trenton (just re-elected to her fifth term earlier this month), will seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th district to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).
She becomes the third declared candidate for the safely Democratic open seat, which will be the first cycle to begin without county lines in primary elections, and the first candidate from Mercer County. Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson (D-Franklin) and East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen quickly joined the field last Monday after Watson Coleman, 80, made an unexpected retirement announcement.
The campaign to fill the seat is moving quickly: vote-by-mail ballots for the June 2026 primary election will be sent out in approximately five months.
Reynolds-Jackson called Watson Coleman “a guiding light for our state and our nation.”
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/verlina-reynolds-jackson-five-term-trenton-lawmaker-will-run-for-nj-12/