Home stretch

The New Jersey 12th congressional district Democratic primary campaign of Matt Adams is literally in the home stretch.

Adams has visited most of the district’s 32 towns. He is saving those geographically closest for last during the coming final weekend prior to the Tuesday, June 2 primary. That includes his Middlesex Borough hometown where he’ll meet with prospective voters at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 1 at Victor Crowell Park.

A large field seeking the Democratic endorsement to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman has dwindled a bit, but stood at a dozen candidates the week before the primary. Thirteen will be in the ballot as one dropped out too late to be removed. Adams remains optimistic about his chances.

“I think I have a path to victory,” he said. “It’s a little more narrow than I’d like.”

The Democratic winner will oppose Republican Gregg Mele in November. Mele is unopposed in the GOP primary.

Adams retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve’s JAG Corps, concluding a 30-year military career in 2015. His resume includes work as a federal government contracts attorney in the defense technology sector, including a decade with Top Secret clearance.

His campaign fund-raising, Adams acknowledges, has been dwarfed by some of his competitors. His intent to run a 5K in each district town in the weeks leading up to June 2 have been hampered by this spring’s wild weather swings of rain, occasional intense heat, and sometimes unseasonable cold. He’s made the best of it, meeting voters when encountered. That’s included a family playing basketball and pizzeria stop.

The district’s 32 municipalities vary, and include Plainfield and smaller suburban towns such as Millstone, Rocky Hill and Manville. NJ12 includes 14 towns in Middlesex County, 10 in Somerset, seven in Mercer and one in Union County.

“There is an incredible disparity in NJ12,” Adams said. “Some towns are strikingly beautiful. Others have areas that are struggling.”

If elected, the challenge would be balancing the interests of all of his constituents, according to Adams. Some towns have flooding concerns. Others have transportation issues. “How am I going to represent everyone?” he added.

Prospective voters are concerned about affordability, the preservation of democracy and rising health care costs, Adams has found.

Adams sees the first two as being tied together. “The road to affordability starts where autocracy ends,” he said. Adams would increase the maximum age for children to remain on their parents’ health care plan from 26 years old to 30, and favors lowering the age for Americans to become eligible for Medicare to 60.

Some people continue working at jobs into their sixties, mainly to retain their employer-related health insurance, Adams said. Decreasing the Medicare age would free them from having to do so, while opening up more jobs for younger people.

While some might question how that is economically doable for the country, Adams said he believes it is possible. The keys would be a more equitable tax code that increases taxes on the ultra-wealthy and rethinking the nation’s defense spending. 

“Defense spending needs to be cut back or made more efficient,” he said. “Another effective way to protect the United States is through diplomacy. Diplomacy really doesn’t cost much money.”

Unlike some politicians who make countless promises, Adams said he realizes “you need to have a plan to pay for this stuff.”

If he wins the Democratic primary, Adams will square off against Mele in November. If he loses, his options remain open. “This has totally been my focus,” he said of the congressional campaign. “My resume really is well-suited to federal office.”

But might he re-enter municipal politics?

Adams was elected to the Middlesex Borough Council twice in the 1990s. He was defeated during a comeback attempt in 2017. He is clearly the most often-mentioned political name in Middlesex, among those who don’t currently hold elected office. The question – Why don’t the Middlesex Borough Democrats run Matt Adams? – is one heard nearly every year, and it’s sometimes uttered by Republicans.

Having served two council terms, Adams appreciates the time put in by others who get elected. That’s a big reason he refrains from commenting on social media about local issues. “Everybody is working hard,” he says of the municipal governing body.

It’s not out of the question that he might one day run again locally, but Adams has no current plans to do so. “I would consider it,” Adams said. “I will never say never, but right now, I’d have to really think about it”

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