Ever since Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016, comedian J-L Cauvin has been ruthlessly impersonating the president on social media, building a following of hundreds of thousands of viewers and earning him national news coverage.
But after years of impersonations, Cauvin says he’s ready to take the fight directly to Trump: he’s running for Congress to succeed Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill.
“I built a national audience during Trump’s first term, shining a satirical light on the cruel absurdity of the Trump administration when a lot of people felt powerless and scared,” Cauvin said in his launch video. “That community is strong, it’s nationwide, and it knows that this special election is about more than just this district. It’s about the message we send, about the fight that’s ahead of us.”
Cauvin, a resident of Bloomfield, isn’t just a comedian. The son of an Irish-Catholic mother and a Haitian immigrant father, Cauvin graduated from Georgetown Law in 2004 and spent time working as assistant district attorney in the Bronx. He later went into private practice, and said he’s now a legal advocate for those facing eviction.
“I see every day what happens when the government stops fighting for regular people,” Cauvin said. “I see the stress, the fear, the helplessness – but I also see the hope when people see someone fighting for them. That’s why I’m running.”
Cauvin is far from the only Democrat interested in replacing Sherrill, who departed her suburban North Jersey congressional seat last night in preparation for her ascension to the governorship. Outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy called a special election this morning, with the Democratic primary arriving on February 5 and the general election on April 16.
A dozen other Democrats are also running for the seat (as is one Republican, though the 11th district’s blue lean means that its next member of Congress will likely be decided in the Democratic primary). Among them are a former congressman, the sitting lieutenant governor, five county and local elected officials, and alums of presidential administrations and national campaigns – a difficult roster for a first-time candidate to beat.
In his announcement video, Cauvin doesn’t reference any of his opponents by name, but he does strike a populist tone, saying it’s time to ban congressional stock trading, implement congressional term limits, and move on from the political status quo. He also calls for protecting Medicare and Social Security, building more housing, and reining in a “rogue Supreme Court.”
“There is no time for stale politics or party insiders who fight harder for their own livelihoods than for yours, and who think that a seat in Congress is their entitlement, no matter what district it is,” he said.
Cauvin has continued to do Trump impressions even while preparing his campaign for Congress, posting a video mocking Trump over the Epstein files earlier this week. It’s an impression that Cauvin hoped to be able to give up after Trump was ousted in the 2020 election – but voters had other ideas.
“Eat. Pray. Love,” Cauvin told the Hollywood Reporter at the beginning of this year when asked how he planned to make it through the next four years of the Trump administration. “And when those fail, vote for Democrats in 2026 and 2028.”
