Iziah Thompson, a 32-year-old housing policy researcher and democratic socialist who served on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, has joined the packed Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing)’s open seat.
A resident of Plainfield, Thompson laid out an ambitious policy agenda in his campaign announcement last week that includes creating a nationwide public housing program, implementing Medicare for All, supporting the Green New Deal, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), embargoing arms shipments to Israel, and banning congressional stock trading.
The first-time candidate also contrasted his own unabashedly progressive stances with those of other Democrats in New Jersey and elsewhere, whom he criticized – albeit not by name – as ineffective and ill-equipped for the Trump era.
“After Donald Trump’s win, I met with House members asking what their plans were to fight against the administration’s worst policies,” Thompson said in his announcement. “One told me that they could ‘write a letter.’ New Jersey cannot replace Bonnie Watson Coleman, a progressive leader, with someone who will disappear into this broken system.”
“The political machine in New Jersey is known for corruption,” he added. “If we want representation in D.C. that won’t fall in line at this crucial time for our nation, we need new leadership untethered from corporate donors and corrupt politics in our state.”
Thompson grew up in Plainfield, a Union County city on the eastern edge of the diverse and deep-blue 12th congressional district. After founding a local youth organization and serving in AmeriCorps, Thompson began working in the housing policy arena, where he has spent most of his career.
Thompson said he spent years “lobbying on the Hill in Washington, D.C.” and pushing for progressive housing reforms in New York City; he worked on housing policy in the office of the New York City Comptroller for two years, and is now a policy analyst for a nonprofit organization. Last November, he moved back to Plainfield from New York City.
Watson Coleman’s November announcement that she would step down at the end of her term set off a scramble among local Democrats to replace her, and no obvious frontrunner has emerged so far. With Thompson now in the race, ten Democrats are running for the district, including one state assemblywoman (perhaps soon to become two), a county commissioner, and three local mayors – among them Adrian Mapp, the mayor of Thompson’s home of Plainfield.
As a democratic socialist who worked on a grassroots pro-Bernie Sanders organization back in 2016, Thompson may try to cast himself as the most progressive candidate in the 12th district field, which is full of loyally liberal Democratic politicians. He’s not the only young, first-time candidate seeking to break out, though; 27-year-old former Energy Department official Jay Vaingankar and 33-year-old entrepreneur Elijah Dixon are also charting similar paths.
