Adam Hamawy, a former Army combat physician whose career has spanned the battlefields of Iraq and Gaza and the operating rooms of South Brunswick, announced Thursday that he is running in the Democratic primary to represent New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.
He is seeking to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who announced in November that she would retire after six terms.
Hamawy, 56, grew up in Old Bridge as the son of Egyptian immigrants and served eight years in the U.S. Army, including a nine-month deployment to Baghdad during the Iraq War.
He operated on hundreds of service members and civilians, among them now-U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who credited him with helping save her life in 2004 after her helicopter was shot down.
Recalling their shared experience in Iraq, Hamawy said Duckworth’s focus on the people around her left a lasting impression.
“The last thing I heard her say that day was asking if her crew was OK,” he said. “That’s what leadership is — not about yourself, but about the people you’re taking care of.”
After leaving the military, Hamawy built a career as a reconstructive plastic surgeon. His practice is based in Princeton.
More recently, he drew attention for traveling to the Gaza Strip in May 2024 as part of a volunteer mission organized by the Palestinian American Medical Association and the World Health Organization.
For three weeks, he worked as part of a medical team of 19 in the besieged enclave, where he told the Associated Press he performed 120 surgeries, more than half of them on children.
In Gaza, Hamawy said he witnessed the toll of civilian suffering.
“I saw both the worst of humanity and the best of humanity there,” he said. “It makes you appreciate what we have and fight for what we believe in and try to make this world a better place.”
After Israel sealed the Rafah border crossing shortly after he arrived, Hamawy was offered the chance to evacuate with other U.S. citizens. But he refused, saying he wouldn’t leave anyone on his team, some of whom were from other countries.
“When you go in as a team, you leave as a team,” he said. “That’s the right thing to do, and that’s what was bred into us [in the Army].”
Duckworth was among those who called for the trapped doctors to be allowed to leave Gaza, with the Illinois senator delivering a letter written by Hamawy to the White House. He and his team eventually exited safely.
Hamawy’s campaign will center on issues like health care reform, he said, drawn from his time around New Jersey’s hospitals, where he sees patients struggle every day.
“I see people with insurance who still can’t afford the premiums, and others who can’t get care at all,” he said.
He criticized what he called bureaucratic barriers from insurers.
He wants to “take on the insurance companies,” he said.
His platform will also focus on greater support for veterans and the redirection of federal spending from military engagements abroad “back home, where we really should be spending it.”
In announcing his candidacy, Hamawy praised the 80-year-old Watson Coleman.
“It’s very tough to fill her shoes, but I want to try,” he said, describing her as “a very spiritual and ethical person” who, in his view, shows that “you don’t have to sell your soul when you go to Congress.”
His entrance in the race was first reported Thursday by the New Jersey Globe.
Hamawy is the latest contender in a Democratic primary that has already drawn a dozen candidates.
New Jersey’s 12th District, which stretches from Trenton to Plainfield, has long been a Democratic stronghold. The area has not been represented by a Republican since 1999, when Mike Pappas left office.
Hamawy said he wants to be a voice for New Jerseyans who feel unheard in Washington.
“I work with people every single day, and I know how they feel,” he said. “I will fight for them, and I won’t be afraid to speak up and hold people accountable.”
