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Jay Vaingankar launches bid for NJ’s 12th District
Vaingankar seeks to succeed long-standing Democratic Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Mon, 08, Dec 2025
- 23:40 EST
- 20
Jay Vaingankar / Jay Vaingankar via X
Indian origin Democrat Jay Vaingankar has joined the race to become U.S. representative from New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, hopes to be the State's first Gen-Z member of U.S. Congress.
The 27-year-old Mercer County native has previously worked in President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy. Announcing his Campaign for the office on Dec. 8, Vaingankar seeks to succeed long-standing Democratic Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Son of Indian immigrants, Vaingankar graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and worked on Biden’s 2020 successful campaign. After Biden won, he took a job in the Biden White House’s Office of Management and Administration and in 2022, Vaingankar shifted to become a policy advisor in the Energy Department, where he remained until Biden left office at the beginning of this year.
Outlining his campaign proposals, he said that he will be vying to "lower your prices, to stand up for your health care and reproductive rights to build more housing and to finally fix our trains and to give every family a real shot."
He announced, "I'm Jay Wangenker and I'm running for Congress in New Jersey's 12th District because the people here have the energy we need."
If you’ve opened a utility bill lately, you know costs are out of control.
— Jay for Jersey (@jayforjersey) December 8, 2025
I helped deliver the biggest clean-energy investment in history – and now I’m running for Congress in NJ-12 to lower your bills and bring new energy to Washington.
Let’s do this. pic.twitter.com/vgt31vbUci
Other candidates vying for the office include Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton), Somerset Commissioner Shanel Robinson (D-Franklin), East Windsor Mayor Brad Cohen, Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp, fitness studio owner Kyle Little, and former West Windsor mayoral candidate Sujit Singh.
Vaingankar's candidature comes at a time when Indian-Americans are actively stepping into U.S. politics. With Mamdani delivering a big win for the democrats and others like Tina Shah and Janak Joshi vying for public office, representation from Indian-Americans in U.S. politics is at an all-time high.
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