Twelve Democrats are vying in the June 2 primary for their party’s nomination to succeed a retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in the 12th Congressional District.
We asked each of them what Democrats should do first if the party wins control of the House of Representatives after November’s elections. Here are their answers:
Matt Adams
We need to raise the age at which someone can stay on their parents’ healthcare to 30. It’s achievable, and I want to start out immediately with something that can be done, can help Americans without delay, to prove that we mean business and that we’re able to accomplish something important quickly.
Sue Altman
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, because we’re seeing our voting rights being eroded with disproportionate impact on Black communities.
Brad Cohen
Right now I think the issue on most people’s minds is the amount of time and money going to an illegal war, so I think we need to take care of that first and then taking control of the purse and how we spend taxpayer dollars.
Adam Hamawy
If they win control of the House, the need to take back the congressional authority that they’ve given up over the last several years. So more authority, the ability to check the administration and the executive branch.
Kyle Little
The first thing that Democrats should do is call for the impeachment of this government, this administration. Stop playing games. The Democratic Party’s approval rating is so low right now because the Democrats are not fighting enough for the communities that always support them, and they’re not being the true party of resistance to everything going on right now.
Adrian Mapp
New Jersey has a housing crisis. Housing is one of the biggest challenges facing the state of New Jersey, facing the nation as a matter of fact. I believe that we ought to provide more resources from the federal government, namely from HUD, low-income housing tax credits, so that more funding can be made available to the investment community, the developers, the states to build more affordable housing, so that people who need a decent, quality place to call home will have a place to live, and so that our young people who want to be in an apartment or in a home of their own will be able to do that.
Verlina Reynolds-Jackson
This is one reason why I believe we need control. There’s just so much that’s out of order. There’s no due process. I am a big constitutional person, so one of the things that I feel like we need to do as Congress is definitely use our congressional powers in terms of oversight, investigation, and appropriations and funding. Because everything starts with us. We fund programs. We can defund programs.
Shanel Robinson
Restore constitutional order and take back authority. That’s No. 1.
Squire Servance
I think people need to focus on affordability, period. We’ve knocked on close to 30,000 doors at this point, and by far the No. 1 issue is cost of living is too high in New Jersey, so addressing housing, healthcare, and household items. The cost of each of those should be, in my opinion, the first focus.
Sujit Singh
We have to take back the war powers.
Jay Vaingankar
I think we need to abolish ICE and restore that money to the clean energy investments, the SNAP programs, and Medicaid that were all taken away in the One Big Beautiful Bill. That’s what I think we need to do first.
Sam Wang
Move a renewal of the Voting Rights Act. The attacks on voting rights have been quite terrible, and the Supreme Court striking down the Voting Rights Act, section two, was disastrous. And so they need a new voting rights act that protects the individual right to vote and also blocks partisan and racial gerrymandering.
Interviews were edited for length and clarity, but not to alter meaning or context.
Nikita Biryukov, Dana DiFilippo, and Sophie Nieto-Muñoz contributed.
