The Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) gave overwhelming support to incumbent U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman over former Princeton school board member Dan Dart at its endorsement meeting March 3.
Watson Coleman and Dart, who is challenging the incumbent congresswoman in the June 4 Democratic Party primary, each made their pitch for the PCDO’s support. She represents the 12th Congressional District, which includes Princeton.
Candidates for the U.S. Senate and the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners also sought the PCDO’s endorsement, ahead of the March 11 Mercer County Committee convention.
Watson Coleman received 82 votes and Dart earned four votes from the eligible voting members of the PCDO. There was one vote for “no endorsement.”
The five-term congresswoman and Dart gave introductory statements and then fielded questions submitted to the PCDO by attendees.
Watson Coleman said she was seeking the club’s endorsement – and the party’s endorsement as well – so she could return to Washington, D.C. because “there is a job to be finished.”
Dart said he would focus on education, calling it “the only sustainable path” to rise out of poverty. He pointed to the small amount of federal funding for public schools. He served on the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education from 2019 to 2021.
The PCDO also threw its support behind U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, whose 3rd Congressional District includes Lawrence Township, in his quest for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Bob Menendez.
Kim is one of four Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to run for U.S. Senate.
Three of the four candidates – Kim, Patricia Campos-Medina and Lawrence Hamm – attended the endorsement meeting. Tammy Murphy, who is the wife of Gov. Phil Murphy, did not attend. She sent a representative in her place.
They made introductory remarks and also took questions from attendees that had been submitted to the PCDO.
Kim received 85 votes and Campos-Medina earned six votes. Hamm and Murphy each received one vote of endorsement from eligible voting members.
The three incumbent members of the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners – Samuel Frisby, Kristin McLaughlin and Terrance Stokes – were given the PCDO’s endorsement by acclamation.