Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Endorses NJ-12 Primary Candidate

PRINCETON, NJ — Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Dr. Adam Hamawy in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District race, giving the Princeton-based surgeon another high-profile boost from the left wing of the Democratic Party.

The congresswoman's endorsement following the likes of several other prominent Democrats who have backed the veteran candidate.

Hamawy announced the endorsement on Tuesday, calling Ocasio-Cortez “a trailblazer for the entire progressive movement.”

“I’ve run a race built around three core ideas: that we should fund healthcare, not bombs, that we must abolish ICE, and that it is long past time we unrig an economy that fails working people daily,” Hamawy said in a statement.

Hamawy said he hopes to join “a growing bloc of fighters” in Congress focused on working-class issues and progressive reforms.

The endorsement adds to a growing list of national Democratic figures backing Hamawy’s campaign, including U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Tammy Duckworth, along with Reps. Ro Khanna, Rashida Tlaib, Delia Ramirez, Ilhan Omar and Jill Tokuda.

Hamawy is one of a crowded field of Democrats seeking to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in the heavily Democratic 12th District. Other candidates in the race include Sue Altman, East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson, attorney Squire Servance, Princeton professor Sam Wang, former Energy Department adviser Jay Vaingankar, technology consultant Sujit Singh, former Middlesex councilman Matt Adams, and fitness studio owner Kyle Little.

Hamawy, a Princeton-area surgeon and Army veteran, is running to represent a district that includes parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Somerset counties.

See the town-by-town breakdown of NJ-12 below:

Mercer County

• Ewing Township
• Hopewell Borough
• Hopewell Township
• Pennington
• Princeton
• Trenton
• West Windsor Township

Middlesex County

• Cranbury
• Dunellen
• East Brunswick
• Helmetta
• Jamesburg
• Middlesex
• Milltown
• Monroe Township
• North Brunswick
• Old Bridge Township (part)
• Plainsboro Township
• South Brunswick
• South River
• Spotswood

Somerset County

• Bound Brook
• Bridgewater Township (part)
• Franklin Township
• Hillsborough Township (part)
• Manville
• Millstone
• Montgomery Township
• North Plainfield
• Rocky Hill
• South Bound Brook

Union County

• Plainfield

According to his campaign, Hamawy served as a combat trauma surgeon in the U.S. Army and later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has worked in combat and disaster zones, including Iraq and Haiti.

Since leaving active service, Hamawy has spent more than a decade building a medical practice in the Princeton area while continuing humanitarian medical work in disaster and war zones, the campaign said.