U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman Wants ‘Choir’ to Sing and Vote for Black Agenda
U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman speaks at the Statewide Meeting for the Black Agenda at St. Matthew's Baptist Church in Williamstown on Saturday, August 30, 2025. Photo by AC JosepH Media
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the public interest, Front Runner New Jersey.com will run a series of stories that were generated from the series of noteworthy speakers at the third Statewide Meeting for the Black Agenda Forum held at St. Matthew’s Baptist Church in Williamstown on Saturday, Aug. 30. Today, our feature is on comments made by veteran U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
WILLIAMSTOWN – Democratic U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said she knew she was speaking to a mostly partisan crowd on Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Statewide Meeting for the Black Agenda Forum, but that her message must still be heard by the crowd.
Watson Coleman was a part of an influential group of politicians and other leaders who spoke at the event that drew a large crowd throughout South Jersey at St. Matthew’s Baptist Church.
“I’m up here begging you. I know who you are,” Watson Coleman said. “You’re here at the beginning of the last holiday of the season. You’re here when you can be outside in that beautiful weather. I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I need that choir to sing. I need you to make sure that no vote is left behind.”
As a House member, Watson Coleman has had a front row seat in Washington, D.C. watching how President Donald Trump has steamrolled his political agenda through executive orders, leaving Democrats with little ability to pushback on them.
New Jersey will be one of the first tests on how popular that agenda is when voters go to the polls in November to elect a replacement for term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy. Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli will face off against Democrat, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherill.
Watson Coleman accused Ciattarelli of “sucking up” to Trump by accepting his endorsement.
“If we let him get into New Jersey, we will lose our democracy,” Watson Coleman said. “Do not think that our democracy is not on the line. It is on the line. It’s holding on by a thread. We have a dictator in training right now and he’s 90% on his way.”
The veteran Congresswoman said the environment on Capitol Hill has been “the most toxic” she has seen. She accused the Trump administration of trying “to take every right you ever had and every opportunity you ever had.”
“They want to make sure that government is so under-resourced that they can do nothing to help you,” Watson Coleman said. “It makes our living more expensive. It creates all kinds of problems nationally and internationally. It’s a president who wants to create a police state, starting with every city that has a Black mayor or Black population.”
“I appreciate this discussion we had today. It has been all over the place. It has been about what is happening in the state of New Jersey. It’s been about what has been happening and needed in Washington, D.C. It has been around what it has and has not been happening for young people.”
Speaking after comments made by president of the Young Democrats of America Fatima Heyward, who also addressed the crowd, Watson Coleman called for young people to go to the polls.
“I demand also that young people get their respect and accountability in everything that we do but I need them to show up and vote,” Watson Coleman said. “I’m so proud of Fatima, she’s just amazing, but we have to help her. We have to help her actualize all of the power that we can have when we actualize all of ours.”
She added that while Democrats are not perfect, she believes the concerns for Blacks have a better chance of being aired and being taken seriously with that party.
“We have to be at the table and we need somebody who will at least consider our positions,” Watson Coleman said. “We as the Black community have the stay together on the Black agenda even through this election and the next election.
“They need to know that you can count on us and we’ll be able to count on you. I don’t want to hear any crap about options. We don’t have options.”
Watson Coleman said meetings like Saturday could be a catalyst for Blacks making their voices heard.
“I’ve been praying in advance of this meeting, because I need it to mean something,” Watson Coleman, invoking the memory of her father, late New Jersey legislator John S. Watson and others who helped galvanize Black political power I the state. “We must stick together.”
Prior to her election as the Representative for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, Watson Coleman served eight consecutive terms in the New Jersey General Assembly and shattered racial and gender barriers to become the first Black woman to serve as Majority Leader, and as the Chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.
In 2016, Watson Coleman founded the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls alongside two of her colleagues, the first caucus aimed at bringing both the tremendous challenges and incredible successes of Black women to the fore in Congress’s policy debates.
In addition to continuing to co-chair the Caucus on Black Women and Girls and the role she serves with the Progressive Caucus, Watson Coleman is an active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, The Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
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