New Jersey's 12th congressional district is represented by

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Bonnie Watson Coleman Bonnie Marie Watson Coleman (born February 6, 1945) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (U ...

, who has served in Congress since 2015. The district is known for its research centers and educational institutions such as

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. It consists of three academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir Coll ...

The College of New Jersey The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, ...

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

and

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consist ...

. The district is primarily suburban in character, covering portions of Mercer, Somerset, Union, and Middlesex counties, although the district contains the state capital of Trenton as well as the smaller city of Plainfield.

History

The 12th congressional district (together with the 11th district) was created starting with the

63rd United States Congress The 63rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1913, t ...

in 1913, based on redistricting following the

1910 United States census The 1910 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 census ...

. Historically, the 12th and its predecessors had been a swing district. However,

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

following the 2000 United States census gave the district a somewhat bluer hue than its predecessor. It absorbed most of Trenton, along with a number of other municipalities. Since then, the 12th has become a Democratic-leaning district, as measured by the Cook PVI. The redistricting made second-term Democrat Rush D. Holt Jr. considerably more secure; he had narrowly defeated freshman Republican Michael Pappas in 1998, and had only held on to his seat against Dick Zimmer who represented the district from 1991 to 1997, by 651 votes in 2000. In 2002, despite an expensive challenge from former

New Jersey Secretary of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as we ...

Buster Soaries, Holt was re-elected with 61% of the vote. The district became even more Democratic after redistricting following the 2010 census, as it lost its share of Republican-leaning

Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is a County (United States), county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county was the state's List of counties in New Jersey, 4th-least populous ...

and Monmouth County, while being pushed further into strongly Democratic Middlesex County and gaining the overwhelmingly Democratic Union County town of Plainfield, as well as the portion of Trenton that it had not absorbed in the previous redistricting. Holt retired in 2014 and was succeeded by State Assembly Majority Leader

, making her the first African-American woman elected to Congress from New Jersey.

Counties and municipalities in the district

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of four counties and 32 municipalities.

New Jersey Redistricting Commission The New Jersey Redistricting Commission is a constitutional body of the government of New Jersey tasked with redrawing the state's Congressional election districts after each decade's census. Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington ...

, December 23, 2021. Accessed January 8, 2023. Mercer County (7) : Ewing Township, Hopewell, Hopewell Township, Pennington,

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, Trenton, West Windsor Middlesex County (14) : Cranbury, Dunellen,

East Brunswick East Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York metropolitan area and is located on the southern shore of the Raritan River, directly adjacent to New Br ...

, Helmetta, Jamesburg,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, Milltown, Monroe Township, North Brunswick, Old Bridge Township (part, also 6th; includes Brownville and Old Bridge CDP), Plainsboro Township, South Brunswick, South River, Spotswood Somerset County (10) : Bound Brook, Bridgewater Township (part, also in 7th), Hillsborough Township (part, also in 7th; includes Blackwells Mills, Hillsborough CDP, and part of Belle Mead and Flagtown), Franklin Township, Manville,

Millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

, Montgomery Township, North Plainfield, Rocky Hill, South Bound Brook Union County (1) : Plainfield

Recent election results from statewide races

List of members representing the district

Recent election results

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

References

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Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{Coord, 40.323514, -74.542236, format=dms, display=title 12 Hunterdon County, New Jersey Mercer County, New Jersey Middlesex County, New Jersey Monmouth County, New Jersey Somerset County, New Jersey Constituencies established in 1913 1913 establishments in New Jersey