Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th) last week announced she would not seek reelection when her term ends in 2026.

A progressive voice in the Democratic Party, Watson Coleman was elected to the state Assembly in 1998. She served as chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee from 2002 to 2006 and served as Assembly majority leader from 2006 to 2010.

In 2015, Watson Coleman was elected to represent the state’s 12th Congressional District, becoming the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in the House of Representatives.

NJ Spotlight News Anchor Briana Vannozzi spoke with the Watson Coleman about her political legacy and what’s to come. This interview has been lightly edited.

Briana Vannozzi, anchor: Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. Another busy day on your plate, as I’m sure they all have been in the last decade. Why was now the right time to step away?

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman: Thanks for having me on, I’m always glad to be with you all. It’s been something that I’ve been thinking about for about six months. I think that, I’ve worked hard, I’ve worked in a space that I found very difficult to work in with a scandalous, administration and a capitulating Congress and a capitulating Supreme Court. And I think it’s time for someone else to take this on.

So my family and I have been talking about it. I held the information while we went through a gubernatorial, a very successful gubernatorial, and some other important areas, and as soon as I thought it was a free time to announce, I wanted to announce. I wanted to announce it to my staff, and I wanted to announce it to any potential candidate so both staff and candidates could do what they needed to do over a long enough period of time to be successfully transitioning into their next thing.

BV: I mean, your colleague, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has also said that she will not seek reelection. Six terms, nothing to sneeze at by any means, but also by congressional standards, not an eon of time. I mean, a decade by congressional standards is somewhat short. Was there a specific point of frustration, as you say, with this political climate that pushed you here in these last six months?

BWC: So, Congress is hard. Period. We’ve got more rules than we have opportunities to pass legislation. So, there were frustrations with that. But I am going to tell you, I’ve never experienced such meanness, such intentional evilness in an administration as I experienced in Trump’s second administration.

When you couple that with the fact that Congress has abrogated its constitutional responsibility to be a check on that and to be the purse rings of the United States taxpayers’ money, and when you put it on top of that, a Supreme Court that has become politicized and lost its way, it is hard. It is hard to face it every day knowing that the system is stacked against you.

So there are people like me that will speak out all the time, that will try to use legislation, use other forms of, acknowledgments on the floor and resolutions, hook up with folks protesting. But when you have all three branches of government not functioning, not authentic, and in violation of their constitutional obligation, you gotta say at some point, ‘Well, what more can I do?’

So I go home at night feeling burden, sometimes crying, because I can’t help make it better. I can’t fix somebody’s problem. I said, well, you know, maybe it’s time for some other people, hopefully sharing some of my same values, to come in and put their metal to the pedal, so to speak, on behalf of what the government should work for.

BV: I wonder then what you think the constituents in the 12th District should look for then in a candidate? I’m thinking about my time interviewing you back in the Assembly but then also throughout your time in Congress. You were arrested after protesting SCOTUS and abortion rights. You led, one of four females that New Jersey had in Congress back in 2016, the most amount ever. You were the first to speak up on a ceasefire in Gaza. We’ve spoken quite a bit after the Delaney Hall incident with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, which you were present. Is someone going to have the kind of chutzpah that you have to do these things, as you say, need to be done as a member of Congress in this day?

BWC: I’m sure that there’s someone out here in the 12th Congressional District that shares some of the same values and concerns and recognizes that public service is not a job. It’s not a position. It’s not Flashdance. It’s a commitment to people. I think that we have 13 months, or we have at least until June of next year to identify that person in the 12th Congressional District.

I think the 12th Congressional District is the best district in the whole country. It is rich, it’s poor, it’s minority. It’s non-minority. It’s generous. It’s authentic. It wants people to represent them, who want to make government work for the people that need government to work for. Right? So I think that the next seven or eight months, the District needs to be peppering people with questions.

Anyone who says that he or she is interested in succeeding me, I, as the guide, hope that it is someone that shares some of my values. I’d like somebody to share all of them, but you know what? I’m not perfect. There are people better out here better than me. And I just pray to God that he sends the candidate who ultimately wins, that cares about those who are most vulnerable and needy, whether they’re in the United States of America, whether or not they’re coming from other countries because they’re fleeing danger, or whether or not they live side by side in other countries across the world and need to know how to live safely and securely. And so, you know, there’s a hint for everybody in there from from Gaza to the United States. I want people to think about dignity and humanity for all people.

BV: Do you see yourself making an endorsement at some point?

BWC: I don’t have any intention of doing that. I rarely do an endorsement in a primary because the primary is a family debate, and I think family members have the right to hear and to consider and I don’t want to put my thumb on it. I want it to emerge the best way it can for the for the District.

But let me just say, should I see us going in a really bad direction? I am going to speak up even though I’m being advised not to.

BV: Two more quick questions for you, Congresswoman, because I know that you have to go. You and the rest of the members of the House are about to vote on the release of the Epstein files. This is something that the president has recently reversed course on, he’s encouraged the GOP to vote for it, he has said he will sign the bill if it comes to his desk. I want to ask you why you think he’s had this change of heart?

BWC: No change of heart because he doesn’t have a heart. He’s a liar. And what he’s going to do is open it up until it gets to a certain point. Then he’s going to create another distraction, and then he’s going to use another element of the government that he’s weaponized to delay this information getting out. Donald Trump is incapable of opening his mouth and telling the truth. And so I don’t have any hopes of his taking his finger off of this. And you know why? Because he’s in it.

BV: So then I think it should go without saying how you plan to vote, but will you share with us?

BWC: I will vote to release the Epstein files without any compunction on my part. This is about pedophilia. This is about the safety and security of young women. This is about recognizing that victims should be treated with dignity and respect. And this is about a warning to anybody else in this country who’s doing anything like that, that your time is going to be up as well.

BV: I want to get your take very quickly on the judge’s decision not to dismiss charges against your colleague, LaMonica McIver. What’s your take on that and what’s your concern?

BWC: So I was with LaMonica and LaMonica did not assault anybody. I’m going to tell you that right now. That’s the deal. Rob [Menendez] and I were there together. She was protecting me. She was protecting the mayor. If she pushed someone off of her, was the get off of her because these folks were big. They were fatigued. They even were armed. So that’s that’s the issue on the merits of the case, right? Their arguments were about whether or not she had certain rights under Congress and debate clauses and all that kind of stuff. And the judge didn’t follow or find the reason to go in the direction on her behalf.

That’s not the merits of the case. And so at some point, this is going to be the end of this case because she’s been selectively prosecuted. This is punishment. This is disrespect for us as members of Congress and double disrespect for us as Black members of Congress. Let us not forget that we’re in a very racist environment and LaMonica is strong. I pray for her all the time. I adore her. I was in it with her and she did nothing wrong.