Meet Adam Hamawy, a doctor who worked in Gaza wants to take his experience to US Congress

Adam Hamawy has treated some of Gaza’s most critical patients—experience he hopes to bring to the US Congress if he wins the New Jersey primary on Tuesday.

The first-time candidate, who is leading in the polls, is running on a platform of universal healthcare and affordability, tapping into nationwide frustration over high prices, stagnant wages, exorbitant healthcare costs, and foreign wars.

"It's important for me to run. I have a unique experience being a veteran and a doctor. I’ve seen the effects of policy on everyday people," Hamawy tells The New Arab in an interview before the New Jersey primary, which he joined following the retirement of Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served for six terms.

"As we enter another time of war, it's important to think of all the communities that are impacted. All policy decisions are happening in Washington," he said.

The full-time physician is part of a growing trend of political candidates running in high-level races coming from careers outside of politics. Other elected officials in recent years to leap include Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who worked as a bartender, a filmmaker and a pastor, respectively.

Hamawy, whose parents emigrated from Egypt to the US when he was a baby, grew up in the district where he is now running for office. He was able to benefit from a high-quality education, an area where he has seen cutbacks for his children's generation.

He became closely acquainted with the US healthcare system while working as a physician in New Jersey. Also, as a doctor serving abroad, including with the US military in Iraq and, more recently, on humanitarian missions in Gaza, he has had firsthand experience of the effects of US foreign policy.

In Iraq, Tammy Duckworth, who would later become a senator from Illinois, credited him with saving her life when she was a soldier, and in Gaza, he refused to leave until the non-American doctors were also evacuated. In June 2024, he testified to Congress about treating patients in Gaza.

His campaign manager, Hebah Kassem, who has a background in public health and has worked on several political campaigns, had helped Hamawy leave Gaza. When he announced his run for Congress, she was interested in joining an upstart campaign focused on healthcare.

"I was one of the first people he called [when he decided to run for Congress]," Kassem tells TNA. "He has an interesting story that is very appealing to people."

So far, Hamawy, who is competing against around a dozen other candidates in New Jersey's 12th congressional district, is leading in both fundraising and in the polls, boosted by hundreds of volunteers who have knocked on thousands of doors. He has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Representative Ro Khanna of California and by progressive groups such as Justice Democrats and Track AIPAC.

According to the Cook Partisan Voter Index, New Jersey's District 12 is Democrat +13, based on the latest presidential election, meaning that the Democrat who wins Tuesday’s primary is expected to win the general election in November.

Days before New Jersey's 2 June primary, Hamawy is facing questions over his connection in the early 1990s with Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim leader who was later convicted for his involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre.

He has responded by saying that he ceased contact after Abdel-Rahman was arrested, and he has dismissed the recent questions over his past ties with the sheikh as Islamophobic. Though he continues to lead in Democratic primary polls, this could be a sign of what he would be facing in the November general election.

Despite predictable attacks and divisions before election day, Hamawy says he believes he can bridge party divisions and has managed to court some Republican voters by focusing on everyday issues, such as affordability and better access to high-quality healthcare and education.

"Their messaging is based on fear and misinformation. Our job is trying to dispel that fear," he said. "Growing up, they said, 'Don't talk about politics and religion'. We have to talk about it. We have to break these boundaries and talk about the issues we care about. Most people just want to have a better life. It’s important to get out of our own silos."

"Treating patients, I see everyone as a human being. That's been core for my entire life. Healthcare is such a sacred thing; it's a human right. It shouldn't be denied to anyone. It's just who I am," he said.