State Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick) will not run for Congress in 2026, a decision that instantly reshapes the Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district and leaves a wide-open race in his wake.
Zwicker, who previously ran for the seat in 2014 before beginning his career in the legislature, would have been a frontrunner – if not the frontrunner – to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) if he had run. But after spending more than a month considering whether to enter the race, he said he’s decided to focus on his legislative work rather than try to head to Washington.
“This is a time of great challenge and opportunity in NJ, and there is still much to be done,” Zwicker said in a statement. “While I am deeply honored by the encouragement I’ve received to run, I believe my most impactful path forward at this time is to continue my work in the State Senate. I remain fully committed to working to improve the lives of families in the 16th legislative district and across NJ.”
A top scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the 61-year-old Zwicker’s first run for elected office was in the 12th district, when he ran to replace retiring Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell), a fellow physicist, eleven years ago. Zwicker impressed local party leaders but failed to make much of a dent against his three more established opponents, and he came in a distant fourth place in the Democratic primary.
That ended up being the ideal jumping-off point, however, for Zwicker’s campaign for the Assembly the next year, in which he unseated a Republican assemblywoman by just 78 votes. Zwicker won several tough re-election fights in the years that followed before making the leap up to the State Senate in 2021.
In the Senate, Zwicker has walked a difficult tightrope, remaining close to the state’s progressives and good-government activists while also being a part of one of New Jersey’s most powerful Democratic machines, the Middlesex County Democratic organization.
Without Zwicker in the race, Middlesex Democrats only have one major candidate running, East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen. Since other county parties are more splintered, that could be to Cohen’s substantial advantage as long as no other Middlesex candidates emerge – but in a post-county line world, there’s no guarantee that voters will vote along county lines as they did in the past.
The race will also likely take on some freighted ideological dimensions – especially since the candidates are competing to replace Watson Coleman, generally viewed as the state’s most progressive congresswoman – but it’s too early to say how those divides might break down among the nine candidates (and counting) who are campaigning for the seat.
One of Zwicker’s colleagues, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton), has announced a campaign for the seat, and another, Asssemblywoman Tennille McCoy (D-Hamilton), might be joining her soon. Also in the race are Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson (D-Franklin), Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp, former Energy Department official Jay Vaingankar, Millstone Mayor Raymond Heck, former West Windsor mayoral candidate Sujit Singh, entrepreneur Elijah Dixon, and fitness studio owner Kyle Little; attorney Squire Servance and Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello are considering running as well.
Zwicker, though, said he doesn’t plan on making any endorsement in the race for now; Watson Coleman, too, has remained neutral.
“At this stage, I will not be making an endorsement in the primary, as I believe the voters of the 12th district deserve the space to engage with each candidate’s vision,” Zwicker said. “I look forward to supporting our eventual nominee and ensuring that this seat remains a powerful voice for progress in the nation’s capital.”
