Altman earns Princeton Community Democratic Organization endorsement following packed candidate forum

After a packed forum on Sunday night hosted by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO), candidate Sue Altman won the group’s endorsement. Over 200 people attended the event at the Suzanne Patterson Center in Princeton to hear from all 17 declared Democratic candidates in the N.J.-12 Congressional race.

The N.J.-12 seat is open in the 2026 midterms race after longtime Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced she would not seek reelection last year.

153 ballots were cast by PCDO members at the event, according to PCDO President Jeffrey Oakman. Voters could rank up to all 17 candidates. After the top candidate on each ballot was counted, Altman had the most first-round votes, with 55. Adam Hamawy came in second with 29.

As the top two candidates, Altman and Hamawy moved on to a runoff round based on the ranked ballot. Voters who ranked Altman before Hamawy had their votes go towards Altman, and vice versa, as long as they had ranked at least one of the two. After the runoff round, Altman won the endorsement with 65.3 percent of the vote, according to Oakman.

During the candidate forum, moderated by political columnist Charles Stile, the candidates were split alphabetically into two groups. The groups were asked separate sets of questions. Candidates discussed issues including Medicare for All, climate change, limiting aid to Israel, federal immigration enforcement, and holding the Trump administration accountable.

Three candidates in the first group — Kyle Little, Hamawy, and Mike Anderson — explicitly referred to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” when asked whether the United States should place conditions on military aid to Israel.

Candidate Elijah Dixon went further than opposing offensive military aid to Israel. He specified that he wants “no dollars, offensive, defensive, not a single red penny going to Israel.” Anderson drew a connection between the experiences of people in Gaza and Black people in the United States. “We’ve been in a genocide right here in New Jersey, and we need to call it what it is,” Anderson said.

In a response that exceeded her allotted time by over 30 seconds, Altman offered that “members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have shown genocidal intent,” and supported holding aid to Israel to the “same level of scrutiny” as other countries. Later, during her closing remarks, Altman clarified that she would support and co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act, which prohibits a wide range of weapons from being provided to Israel.

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Candidate Brad Cohen, however, defended Israel. “I believe that Israel has the right to defend itself and that, as a U.S. ally in a very difficult and conflict-laden region of the world, we should not limit aid to that country,” Cohen said.

In response to a question about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), candidate Sam Wang labeled the situations in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine as “genocide,” seemingly a reversal from his prior refusal to affirm the statement that “Israel has committed genocide in Gaza” at a Feb. 8 Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) forum. Wang is a neuroscience professor at the University.

“My position has not changed. However, [the CAIR] forum asked a yes/no answer, and as an academic, my reaction was that I wanted to give a longer answer,” Wang wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

The candidates in the second group were asked whether supporting the abolition of ICE would “run the risk of alienating” more moderate voters. All candidates criticized ICE, although some stopped short of calling for the agency to be abolished.

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“I’m the guy that can change an institution, and I’m not afraid to try,” Rick Morales said after specifying he would prefer to reform rather than abolish ICE. Adrian Mapp said he wants to “slash significantly the funding for ICE” while calling for “comprehensive immigration reform,” and Sujit Singh said the agency should be “revamped” and have increased oversight.

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson said ICE should be “defund[ed]” and criticized the Immigrant Trust Act currently being considered in the New Jersey Legislature as lacking sufficient protections for those with temporary protected status.

When asked by Stile whether “fighting climate change [is] more important than keeping energy prices low for working families,” the candidates in the second group broadly asserted that the two goals could go hand in hand.

Following the candidate forum, some voters noted how it was difficult to rank all the candidates.

“It’s very hard to listen to 17 people and try to parse through them,” said Jani Rachelson, a PCDO member. Diane Sandahl, another member, said she only ranked “about seven.”

After the first round vote tabulation, four candidates received no votes: Raymond Heck, Little, Morales, and Singh. Wang and Reynolds-Jackson came in third and fourth place, with 18 and 17 votes, respectively.

“I am shocked and flabbergasted, but very pleased, with the level of talent, the level of diversity, the level of commitment, and the level of advocacy,” Princeton councilman Leighton Newlin told the ‘Prince’ after the event. “I don’t think there was anyone there that didn’t sell themselves reputably.”

Princeton Council President Michelle Pirone Lambros said the issue she was most prioritizing when considering the candidates was “taking back our legislative branch and how to put checks on the executive branch.”

“The power of the purse belongs in Congress, but Congress is ceding the power right now, so I liked hearing a lot of the responses and approach[es] to that,” Pirone Lambros said.

Before the event, around 10 current and former Princeton students stood outside holding signs in support of Altman.

“I think it’s really exciting that there [are] so many candidates,” said Michelle Miao ’26, a student organizer for Altman. “[Altman] put her own body on the line protesting corruption. She knows the district, she cares about the district, and she’s very genuine,” Miao said.

Miao is a former News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

The primary election will occur on June 2, and the subsequent general election will take place on Nov. 3.

Oliver Wu is the assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading town coverage, focused on the Municipality of Princeton and beyond. He is from Stony Brook, N.Y. and can be reached at oliver.wu[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.