Army veteran critic of Gaza genocide wins New Jersey primary

Adam Hamawy, a US Army veteran and plastic surgeon, secured the Democratic nomination in New Jersey's 12th Congressional District on Tuesday after campaigning against US military support for Israel's war in Gaza and for progressive domestic policies, positioning him as the clear favorite to win the heavily Democratic seat in November.

Campaign Platform and Anti-War Stance

Hamawy ran on a platform that includes abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, establishing universal Medicare coverage, and terminating US military assistance to Israel. "You've heard throughout this race that I said over and over again: health care, not bombs," he told supporters in Princeton, according to The New York Times, adding that the political system "floods money overseas to bomb children's schools" while neglecting domestic child care — an allusion to the US attack on an Iranian girls' school in February that killed approximately 160 students.

The 56-year-old candidate entered electoral politics following a 2024 humanitarian mission to a hospital in southern Gaza, where he treated casualties of Israeli military operations. "I could only define it as a genocide, because I saw the bodies of the people that came in," he told The Guardian after the visit, noting that "you can't have an accident, every single day for three years." He stated that he refuses to have his tax dollars fund such military actions.

Primary Results and November Outlook

With approximately 93 percent of ballots counted, Hamawy received 28.1 percent of the vote compared to 14.9 percent for his nearest rival, Brad Cohen, according to The Associated Press. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, whose retirement creates the open seat, praised Hamawy's "selflessness and bravery" and his ability to "speak with unimpeachable authority on the suffering of the Palestinian people," though she did not issue a formal endorsement in the 12-person primary. Hamawy will face Republican Gregg Mele in the November general election in a district where Democratic registration significantly outnumbers Republican.