Bonnie Watson Coleman

Bonnie Watson Coleman

Bonnie M. Watson Coleman is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district since 2015. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 to 2015 for the 15th Legislative District. She is the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in Congress.

About Bonnie Watson Coleman in brief

Summary Bonnie Watson ColemanBonnie M. Watson Coleman is an American Democratic Party politician, who has served as the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district since 2015. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 to 2015 for the 15th Legislative District. She is the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in Congress. Her father John S. Watson served six terms in the N.J. legislature. In March 2016, Coleman, along with Rep. Robin Kelly and Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, founded the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls. She co-sponsored the International Megan’s Law, to combat child exploitation and other sex crimes abroad, in February 2016.

Her two sons were sentenced to seven years in prison after committing armed robbery against a Kids R Us store in 2001. One of her son gained employment with a county agency following his release. She also supports a ban of the type of assault rifles her sons used in the robbery. In October 2020, she co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that condemned Azerbaijan’s offensive operations against the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karakh. In 1972, Watson married Jim Carter. The pair divorced in the early 1980s. In 1995, she married William Watson. She has two sons from a previous marriage.