Adrian Mapp, current mayor of Plainfield, is running to represent New Jersey’s 12th Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Mapp focused on affordability, housing, and his executive experience.
“The job of mayor is extremely difficult, and I have been the mayor for 12 plus years,” he said. “My experience in building housing puts me in a great position. All of the other candidates can talk. They have these ideas, and they have not done the work.”
Mapp immigrated to the United States from Barbados in 1977, when he was a young adult. He told the ‘Prince’ that his mother came to the country as an undocumented immigrant in the 1960s, and she brought him and his siblings after gaining legal status. Mapp said he attended school at night while working full time to support his family.
Shortly after moving to Plainfield in 1979, Mapp became involved in local politics as a councilman. His first mayoral run in 2009 was unsuccessful, but he was elected in the fall of 2013 and has won multiple consecutive reelections.
Mapp further highlighted how the cost of housing has contributed to low homeownership rates. He stated that he would “champion the need for low income housing tax credits so that developers can address the housing crisis that we are facing, providing incentives to our young people so that they’re able to own their first home.”
He additionally said that his leadership has contributed to significant economic growth in the city. The website for his last mayoral campaign says that since 2014, Plainfield has seen almost $2 billion in private investment, as well as the construction of 6,000 new residential units.
Mapp also advocated for universal healthcare, emphasizing his role in keeping a government health center open as mayor. Plainfield has a federally qualified health center, which provides medical care to uninsured patients, and was at risk of closing this past fall due to the level of federal funding.
“Had the doors of the health center been closed on September 30, there would have been thousands of people across Union, Middlesex and Somerset Counties that would have been without health care,” Mapp said. “So working with business partners, working with a very qualified team of directors within my administration, we were able to structure deals that will prevent institutions like the health center from closing.”
In line with his platform of affordability, Mapp discussed his efforts to limit tax increases for Plainfield residents. “I have had to govern during very difficult times while at the same time delivering no-tax-increase budgets for a number of years,” he said. “If you look back over my tenure as mayor, taxes were increased, on average, less than the 2 percent cap.”
Mapp also pushed for debt relief for struggling young college graduates, suggesting expanding the Pell Grant program and making interest rates on student loans flat rather than compounding.
As part of his platform of affordability, he also discussed a desire to change the tax codes in order to benefit younger generations. “As young people get into the workforce, we have to make sure that we change our tax codes [to] policies that would shift more the burden to the wealthy, to the millionaires and to the billionaires, and create a tax code that will be less burdensome for our young people,” said Mapp.
Additionally, Mapp highlighted his record of public safety in Plainfield.
“We have transformed our city. We have made it a very safe and inviting city where, over the past couple of years, there have been no homicides in the city. Crime has been drastically reduced,” Mapp said.
The official website of the city of Plainfield says that “the City was able to reduce overall crime by 53% and violent crime by more than 40% in 2018.” In his 2025 State of the City Address, Mapp also said that 2024 was the first year in decades in which Plainfield had no recorded homicides.
Mapp took a measured response to controversies surrounding U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), advocating for reform instead of abolition.
“We have to address ICE, but I am not giving the easy answer that so many other candidates are giving where they’re saying, ‘Let’s just abandon ICE. Let’s get rid of ICE.’ I am for reform. I am for making sure our borders are secure,” Mapp said.
Mapp said that the “deleterious effect” ICE is having on communities should end, and he added that “one of the ways we can do that is by significantly reducing the level of funding for ICE so that those funds could be refocused [and] reallocated to other areas where those funds are needed the most.”
Mapp further talked about what his relationship with the University would be like if elected.
“I would be an advocate for resources for the institution,” he said. “I would work with the leadership to pursue opportunities, and I must also applaud Princeton for its independence and for not bending the knee to the pressures that so many of our educational institutions are facing.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act implemented an 8 percent tax on institutions with large endowments per student. It is not clear whether Princeton is required to pay the increased tax. Mapp noted that he is opposed to the endowment tax, saying that it “would be a way to siphon resources away from Princeton and other educational institutions. Those endowments are to be invested in students invested in the academic programs and to make life better for so many students who rely on support through those endowments.”
“I am a proven progressive,” Mapp said. “I am also someone with executive experience who doesn’t need on-the-job training. I can hit the ground running. I have done the work, and I’m ready to go to Washington and to be a champion for the people of the 12th Congressional District.”
Emily Murphy is a senior News writer, a senior Copy editor, and the chief correspondent for the N.J.-12 congressional election. She is from New York City and can be reached at emily.murphy[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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