Adam Hamawy

Adam Hamawy (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. He advanced from the Democratic primary on June 2, 2026.

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a doctor, veteran, small business owner, and proud father running to represent New Jersey’s 12th District. I grew up working-class in Old Bridge, and earned an ROTC scholarship to pay for my education at Rutgers. I joined the New Jersey Army National Guard and worked my way through Rutgers Medical School. While in residency, I treated victims and other first responders in a field hospital at Ground Zero on 9/11. I rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Army and served as a combat trauma surgeon in Iraq at the height of the war. One of my patients later became a United States Senator – Tammy Duckworth.

Since completing my service, I have worked in New Jersey emergency rooms and built my own practice in Princeton. Over the last 30 years, I have volunteered to treat patients in war and disaster zones, including in Bosnia, Haiti, Sudan, Colombia, Belize, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, and Jordan. In 2024 and 2025, I went on medical missions to Gaza, where I was trapped with my colleagues when Israel seized the Rafah Crossing. I refused to leave until all my colleagues, including US green card holders and other nationals, were guaranteed safe passage alongside the American citizens in the group. I was honored to be Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s State of the Union guest in 2025.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Healthcare, Not Bombs - We have our priorities wrong as a country. We should be spending our resources on achieving universal healthcare through Medicare for All, not bombs and endless wars.Abolish ICE - Our immigrant neighbors are under attack and federal agencies like ICE are out of control. We need to protect our neighbors and restore civil rights in this country.Unrig the Economy - We need to unrig our economy, so that it works for working people, not the billionaires at the top.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Healthcare and foreign policy - I have felt the impacts of these policy decisions more than any others.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Individuals include: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, former Congressman Jamaal Bowman, former NJ-12 candidate Elijah Dixon, and former mayor of Cranbury and current town committee member Eman El-Badawi.

Organizations include: Justice Democrats, Common Defense, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, A New Policy, Veterans for Responsible Leadership, Our Revolution, Climate Revolution Action Network, PAL PAC, CAIR Action, Organize for Peace, Progressive Victory, Beyond the Ballot, Track AIPAC, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, New Jersey Muslim Civic Coalition Activate, and The Justice Coalition Action.

Campaign websiteHamawy's campaign website stated the following:LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. HAMAWY’S PRIORITIESHEALTHCAREI believe healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege. As a physician who sees firsthand how insurance companies and the rest of our absurd system fail patients and providers alike, the fight for Medicare for All is personal for me.Every day, I see working families getting crushed by the health insurance industry. Premiums feel like a second mortgage. Treatments are denied while patients are getting sicker. As a doctor, I am forced to waste my time fighting insurance companies. In the richest country the world has ever known, no one should be choosing between rent and medical bills. That's not a healthcare system – it’s a scam to enrich CEOs.As your Congressman, I will fight for:Medicare for All.The root cause of our failing healthcare system is a choice to protect a greedy industry that prioritizes profit over health and well-being. We need universal, single-payer healthcare with no out-of-pocket costs. Crucially, Medicare for All would also expand coverage to include hearing, dental, and vision insurance.Empowering Medicare to negotiate prescription drug pricing.Americans are paying far more for prescription drugs than the rest of the world. It is time to join other countries in empowering the government to negotiate the prices of lifesaving drugs.Reining in pharmacy middlemen.Powerful corporate middlemen called Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are manipulating drug prices. They drive up drug costs for patients and hurt independent pharmacies – it’s time to break them up and rein in their power.Fighting hospital consolidation.Consolidation across the healthcare industry is driving up costs. I will fight for policies that benefit patients, not megacorporations.Medical debt cancellation.Our broken system is forcing people to choose between their health and going into debt. In Congress, I will support the Medical Debt Cancellation Act to eliminate the $220B in medical debt weighing down working families through no fault of their own.Maternal health.As a physician, husband, and father, maternal health is a top priority for me. Black women are several times more likely to face maternal health challenges in this country, and I commit to supporting legislation to address that disparity, especially with regard to the Black maternal mortality rate.The right to reproductive healthcare.Control over your own body should not depend on where you live. The draconian policies enacted after the overturning of Roe v Wade is a stain on our country and I support codifying the right to abortion in federal law. Politicians need to stay out of decisions between doctors and patients. EDUCATIONPublic schools are the crown jewel of New Jersey. High-quality public education is an engine of opportunity and social mobility. I know this because I’m a product of our public schools. I attended public schools in Plainfield and Old Bridge. I received my B.A., M.D., and M.B.A. from Rutgers University, the largest public university in the state.That’s why I believe every American deserves a strong public education, not just those who live in certain zip codes. Well-funded K-12 schools, affordable college and vocational schools, and job training should be within reach for all of us and our neighbors. But after decades of attacks and neglect, we’re in a crisis moment for public education. Trump has gutted the Education Department and academic research, Republicans in Congress have blocked increased federal funding for public schools, and politicians on both sides of the aisle have failed to stop unaccountable, for-profit institutions from siphoning public funds and ripping off students and families. Reviving our education system is necessary to compete in the 21st-century economy, and to guarantee a better future for our children and their children. It’s time for Congress to prioritize education as a policy issue, and pass a strong and robust pro-education agenda. As your Congressman, I will fight for:Rebuilding the Department of Education.Trump’s illegal actions to dismantle the Department of Education is hurting students across the country. I will fight his illegal actions, and when Democrats retake full control of the federal government, I will fight to build a DOE that is stronger and more effective than it was before.Increasing funding for our public schools with a focus on equity.Across the country, our public schools are underfunded. This is particularly true for lower-income communities. I will fight to increase funding and make sure lower-income communities are prioritized. Increasing teacher pay.Teachers and education support staff make our schools work and are pillars of our communities. We should be recruiting and retaining the best talent to teach our kids. Some states have passed increased salary floors for teachers – we should take that idea to the federal level. Free breakfast and lunch in schools.Free breakfast and lunch programs have been an incredible success across the country. It is time to make this program universal.Banning phones in schools.We all know the addictive power of phones and social media. In our schools, the presence of phones hurts learning and the social interaction that our kids need. New Jersey has banned phones from schools – we should make this a federal policy too.Universal preschool.Universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds has been a successful policy in many states and it is time to bring it to the federal level. All our children deserve a quality education, not just those who can afford it.Tuition-free public colleges and universities.The cost of a college education has skyrocketed. Our public colleges and universities should offer a world-class education free of charge. A college education is a powerful tool for our democracy and we should do what we can to make one more accessible.Cancellation of student debt.The student debt crisis is holding back our younger generations through no fault of their own. It is time to cancel it.Protecting academic freedom and research funding.Trump’s attacks on our universities and research infrastructure have set us back as a country. I will fight to restore and increase funding and fight back against book bans and censorship.CIVIL RIGHTSWe are facing an authoritarian crisis that threatens all of our rights and too many Democratic politicians aren’t doing enough to fight back. As a veteran, I don’t take our liberties or freedoms lightly and I will fight every day to hold this and every administration accountable. Politicians are threatening free speech and assembly by supporting book bans and crackdowns on nonviolent protesters and advocates. They are undermining press freedom by attacking journalists, suing media outlets, and targeting independent media. They are stripping anti-discrimination protections and fueling division and hatred based on race, religion, and gender. And they have weaponized the immigration system to destroy families and terrorize communities. Funded by tens of billions of taxpayer dollars, masked federal agents with military equipment racially profile our neighbors, kidnap them off the street, and shoot and kill them with impunity. Ripping children and grandparents away from their families, subjecting them to inhumane conditions in detention, and sending them to torture prisons in El Salvador is not brave or courageous — it’s cruel and cowardly. As an immigrant, I take this fight personally.As your Congressman, I will fight for:Abolishing and prosecuting ICE.This agency, full of neo-Nazis at all ranks, cannot be reformed. But abolishing the agency is not enough. In Congress, I will drag ICE agents and their bosses in the administration in front of committees to hold them to account. We must then prosecute them for what they have done to our country.Dismantling DHS.DHS was formed after 9/11 and since then, has carried out mass surveillance on the American people, militarized law enforcement, and trampled on our rights. For some reason, crucial agencies like FEMA live under the same parent agency as ICE. This makes no sense and we must dismantle DHS as part of the rebuilding of a post-Trump public sector.A path to citizenship.Millions of undocumented people have built their lives here. They deserve an achievable path to citizenship. I will fight to protect DACA recipients, mixed-status families, and other immigrants from deportation as we advocate for a long-term fix to our broken immigration system.Protecting voting rights and enforcing racial discrimination laws.The Supreme Court is gutting the Voting Rights Act and Trump is looking for new ways to discriminate against Black Americans and people of color. In Congress, I will support the protection and expansion of the right to vote, as well as aggressive enforcement of our anti-discrimination laws in housing, lending, employment, and healthcare.Protecting religious minorities against discrimination.Across the United States, people are being targeted for discrimination by hateful individuals and public officials simply for their religious beliefs. The rise in antisemitism, anti-Muslim hate, and attacks on religious minorities across the board is unacceptable. I will use my platform and the power of my office to fight back against all forms of bigotry and bias.Reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.Control over your own body should not depend on where you live. The draconian policies enacted after the overturning of Roe v Wade is a stain on our country and I support codifying the right to abortion in federal law. Politicians need to stay out of decisions between doctors and patients. LGBTQ+ equality.Trump’s recent wave of policies targeting the LGBTQ+ community is disgraceful and represents yet another way a vulnerable community has been singled out and marginalized. Government should not be in the business of taking away anyone’s civil rights; it should be protecting them. In Congress, I will oppose any effort that undermines the dignity, safety, and rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, and I will support legislation that affirms and protects them. That includes the No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act, which would repeal Trump’s executive order that targeted LGBTQ+ individuals, the 988 LGBTQ+ Youth Access Act, which ensures that LGBTQ+ youth in crisis have access to trained counselors through the national 988 mental health hotline, and the Transgender Bill of Rights, which establishes clear federal anti-discrimination protections. And as a physician, I strongly support the Transgender Health Care Access Act, which expands education and training for healthcare providers so we can deliver competent, respectful, and evidence-based care to transgender patients. At its core, this is about fairness, dignity, and ensuring that every person, regardless of who they are, can live safely and be treated with dignity and respect under the law.Defending free speech, a free press, and the right to protest. I will stand against politically motivated attacks on journalists, frivolous lawsuits designed to silence media outlets, book bans in our schools and libraries, and laws that criminalize peaceful protest. I also support the right to boycott. These rights must be protected, regardless of the political party in power. Much of our current perilous moment for the 1st amendment, particularly on college campuses, can find its origins in the suppression of student protests against the genocide in Gaza. We must, in particular, protect the rights of students to speak out on their own campuses, including against foreign governments.ECONOMIC JUSTICEThe United States is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but tens of millions of Americans are struggling to afford rent, childcare, healthcare, and groceries. That is not bad luck. It is the result of deliberate policy choices made by politicians who answer to billionaires and corporations instead of working families.While CEOs collect hundred-million-dollar bonuses, workers can't afford to take time off when a baby is born or a parent gets sick. While hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses and teachers, children in this country go to bed hungry. While monopolies gobble up entire industries and crush competition, families get squeezed from every direction.I am running for Congress because working families in New Jersey and across this country deserve better. As your Congressman, I'll fight for:Universal paid family and medical leave.The United States is one of the only wealthy countries on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. No one should have to choose between their paycheck and caring for a newborn, a sick child, or a dying parent. I will fight to pass a national paid leave program that guarantees at least twelve weeks of paid leave for every worker in America.Universal childcare.The cost of childcare has become completely unaffordable for working families. In New Jersey, full-time childcare can cost more than college tuition. I will fight for universal, high-quality childcare for every family, and ensure that childcare workers — who are among the lowest paid workers in the country — are paid wages that reflect the importance of what they do.Ending childhood poverty.The expanded Child Tax Credit, passed during COVID, cut child poverty nearly in half in a single year — then Congress let it expire and child poverty doubled back up. We know exactly how to end childhood poverty in this country. We just need the political will to do it. Just care for our elders.After a lifetime of work and contribution, our seniors deserve to age with dignity, security, and care. I will fight to protect and expand Medicare and Social Security benefits. I will push to invest in home and community-based care so seniors can age in place with dignity and ensure that elder care workers are paid living wages.The PRO Act and the right to organize.Unions built the American middle class. Decades of attacks on organized labor have driven down wages and gutted worker power. I will fight to pass the PRO Act to make it easier to organize, harder for employers to union-bust, and ensure that workers can actually bargain for the wages and conditions they deserve.Closing the racial wealth gap.The racial wealth gap is not an accident. It is the direct and compounding legacy of slavery, of Jim Crow, of redlining, and of decades of deliberate policy choices that extracted wealth from Black communities and blocked pathways to opportunity. It is time for this country to reckon honestly with that history and make it right. I support reparations and other initiatives aimed at closing the racial wealth gap.Tackling income and wealth inequality.The wealthiest Americans have rigged the tax code in their favor for decades. I will fight to tax wealth, not just income. The revenue we raise will fund the healthcare, education, housing, and care infrastructure that working families need. It is also long past time to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.Breaking up monopolies.A handful of corporations now dominate nearly every sector of the American economy, crushing competition, gouging consumers, and suppressing wages. I will fight to strengthen antitrust enforcement, break up monopolies that have captured entire industries, and restore a marketplace that works for small businesses, workers, and consumers — not just shareholders.FOREIGN POLICYMost Members of Congress never have to face the consequences of the votes they take on foreign policy. As a former U.S. Army combat surgeon who served in Iraq and as a physician who has volunteered on medical missions to warzones all over the world, I have confronted the human cost of decisions made by those in power. For me, foreign policy is not some far off thing – it’s personal. These experiences have shaped my core principles of foreign policy: diplomacy, restraint, and humanitarianism. The U.S. government should broker peace, not war. It should send books, not bombs. It should build, not destroy. It should benefit people, not corporations.  In 2024 and 2025, I went on medical missions to Gaza. While bombs were falling, I treated patients. In three weeks, I treated more children than I have in all other warzones, combined. We did not have basic medical supplies. What I witnessed was a genocide, paid for with American tax dollars and propped up by our foreign policy.Every year, we spend billions of dollars on bombing civilians in other countries instead of supporting children and families here at home. I am running for Congress to raise this question of our priorities. In the richest country in the history of the world, we should be paying for healthcare, not bombs.As your Congressman, I will fight for:An end to war.I served in Iraq – the so-called war on terror was a failure. The regime change wars are a failure. War serves no one, except for cowardly leaders and corrupt interests.Significantly cutting the trillion dollar Pentagon budget.The Pentagon continuously fails audits while the defense industry grows richer and richer and our tax dollars are used to fuel conflict abroad. It’s time to slash the bloated Pentagon budget and reprioritize what Congress spends our money on. It’s time to focus on healthcare, not bombs.Reclaiming Congressional authority over war powers.Congress has not declared war since World War II and has not authorized use of military force since 2002. Somehow, we are still always at war. The president does not have this authority in the Constitution and it is time for Congress to reclaim its power. Congress cannot give a blank check to Donald Trump as he launches conflicts and risks the lives of our service members and civilian populations across the globe.Rigorous enforcement of Leahy Laws and arms embargoes on countries that violate human rights.We should not be funding foreign militaries or making arms sales to countries committing gross human rights violations. I support cutting off military aid to these countries, including Israel. Justice for Palestinians and an end to apartheid in Israel.On medical missions to Gaza, I witnessed genocide. On medical missions to the West Bank, I witnessed apartheid. I will fight for justice and equal rights for Palestinians, including support for the Palestinian Right of Return under international law. Standing up for human rights and against atrocities everywhere.We cannot be the world’s judge, jury, and executioner. We should instead fight for human rights, civil liberties, and freedom of speech. We must always stand against religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and discrimination against minority populations everywhere. A human rights-first foreign policy is critical to achieving justice and peace. Re-engagement with the international community.Unfortunately, the Trump administration has dismantled some of our best vehicles to engage positively with the global community, whether that be via humanitarian aid, cultural exchange, or participation in international bodies and agreements. This is a huge loss and represents a further centering of US foreign policy on militaristic imperialism, rather than on diplomacy and friendship. In Congress, I will work to roll back the dismantling of agencies like USAID, push to rejoin treaties like the Paris Agreement, and I will also work to establish new means of engaging positively internationally. I support the  Department of Peacebuilding Act, which would establish a cabinet-level Department of Peacebuilding (DoP) dedicated to preventing violence and fostering a culture of peace at home and abroad.Strong labor and climate provisions in international trade agreements.International trade agreements must include protections for the rights of workers and the environment. We cannot afford deals that leave American workers behind and set us further back on climate goals.Enforcement of international agreements on climate.Trump sold out our country to the fossil fuel industry and pulled us out of crucial international agreements to address climate change. We must rejoin these agreements and follow through on our financial commitments.VETERANSVeterans have sacrificed and served our nation, and we have an obligation to them. I served for eight years of active duty and became a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army. During my service, I saved hundreds of people, some of whom have gone on to continue to serve our nation as soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, and even as a U.S. Senator. As both a medical doctor and a veteran, I understand firsthand what military service demands, how its consequences follow those that serve and their families long after the uniform comes off, and why fully supporting our veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is essential to keeping our promises to those who sacrificed for our nation. Too often, veterans return home to systems that are slow, confusing, and underfunded. I have seen how difficult it can be for veterans to access timely healthcare, mental health support, and the benefits they earned. I reject efforts to weaken veterans’ benefits in order to fund corporate tax breaks or serve political priorities that have nothing to do with the well being of retired service members. As your Congressman, I will fight for:Protecting and strengthening the VA.I will fight every attempt to privatize, defund, or hollow out the Department of Veterans Affairs, and push to expand its capacity so that every veteran can access high-quality care close to home, without long wait times, mountains of paperwork, or being pushed toward for-profit alternatives that put profit before patients.Robust mental health care.Many of us struggle with PTSD after returning from service. We are losing too many veterans to suicide. I will fight to dramatically expand VA mental health services, eliminate wait times for mental health appointments, and increase funding for suicide prevention programs.Ending veteran homelessness.It is a moral failure that any veteran in this country is sleeping on the street. I will fight to fully fund HUD-VASH housing vouchers, expand transitional and permanent supportive housing programs, and treat veteran homelessness as the emergency it is until it is eliminated.Toxic exposure and burn pit accountability.Thousands of veterans are sick and dying from exposure to toxic burn pits and other hazardous materials they encountered in service. The PACT Act was a hard-won step forward, and we must ensure it is fully funded and implemented. No veteran should have to spend years fighting the government to prove that their service made them sick.Education, job training, and economic opportunity.We should strengthen and expand education benefits, invest in workforce training that leads to family-sustaining union jobs in the trades, healthcare, and the green economy, and expand SBA programs and federal contracting opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses.Supporting military families.The sacrifices of military service fall on entire families. I will fight for expanded childcare and education support, better mental health resources for military spouses and children, employment protections for spouses whose careers are disrupted by deployment and relocation, and economic security that honors the full cost of what military families give to this country.FIGHTING CORRUPTION & FIXING DEMOCRACYIf Congress actually worked on behalf of the American people, it could make our lives and our country so much better. But that’s not what Congress is doing, and it’s not a coincidence. It’s corruption and a broken political system that does not serve us. Money from billionaires and corporations floods our elections and influences our elected officials who should be representing our interests. Our political system is designed for this kind of corruption, not for democracy. The Supreme Court opened the floodgates of big money in politics, corporate and foreign interests spend heavily to buy politicians’ votes, lobbyists and consultants grease the wheels, billionaires get tax breaks, and we, the American people, get screwed again and again.   We need transparency and accountability in every aspect of our government. We need politicians who will actually fight to clean up Washington and fix a political system that does not work for us. I have committed to refusing corporate PAC money on my campaign.As your Congressman, I will fight for:Overturning Citizens United and reforming campaign finance.The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited, anonymous money in our elections. I will fight to pass the For the People Act, establish public financing of elections, mandate full disclosure of dark money donors, and push for a constitutional amendment to make clear that corporations are not people and money is not speech.Banning stock trading by government officials.Members of Congress should be working for their constituents, not managing their portfolios. I will fight to pass a total ban on stock trading by members of Congress, their spouses, and senior executive branch officials.Supreme Court reform and term limits.Justices are taking undisclosed luxury gifts from billionaires with business before the Court and facing zero consequences. I will fight to establish an enforceable ethics code for Supreme Court justices, impose term limits, and expand the Court to restore its independence and legitimacy.Protecting and expanding the right to vote.I will fight to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act, pass automatic voter registration, expand early voting and vote by mail, end partisan gerrymandering, and make Election Day a federal holiday.Abolishing the Electoral College.Every American's vote should count equally. I will fight to abolish the Electoral College and elect the President by national popular vote, so that every vote in every state actually matters.Impeaching and removing corrupt and lawless officials.When officials abuse their power or violate the law, Congress has both the authority and the obligation to act. I will not look the other way. Trump and his cabinet must be removed.CLIMATE CHANGEA rapid transition to clean energy.To mitigate climate change, we must decarbonize our economy as fast as possible. The Inflation Reduction Act was a reasonable start, but we need to go beyond restoring the programs Trump c