Gaza

“My name is Marwan Abdelhamid,” he said. “Born in Jerusalem, raised in Gaza. Left it at seven and haven’t been back since. This is the story of so many Palestinians.” He sounded a little nervous, but it soon dissipated. On stage, he marshalled that same mischievous energy that runs through everything from his social media clips to his music videos. In between songs, he addressed the crowd, bringing it back to the fraught political moment, to Gaza. Often, he told them, he would be told: “Shhh, don’t talk about Palestine.” Often, he admitted, he asked himself how he could be singing and dancing when his people were dying. But joy in our culture was our right, he said.

Knocking on strangers’ doors on a warm May afternoon in Trenton, New Jersey, Adam Hamawy did not seem fazed when more than a few went unanswered.

It’s his first time running for office, but this is an area where he has experience. After returning from a medical mission in Gaza in 2024, Hamawy went to Washington to describe the crisis – which he viewed as a US-funded genocide – to lawmakers, only to encounter “too many doors that were closed, that didn’t even want to listen”.

One of the few representatives on Capitol Hill who met with him was his own: Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served New Jersey’s 12th congressional district for more than a decade.

When she announced her retirement in November 2025, after six terms, Hamawy decided it was no longer enough to seek the attention of those elected to serve in Washington – and launched his campaign to join them.

In six months, Hamawy has gone from a political nobody to, deemed by most measures, the frontrunner in a crowded race, endorsed by prominent progressive and Democratic figures including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Tammy Duckworth. His work history has driven him to call for Medicare for All, advocating for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel, and the abolition of ICE – and to say openly he cannot support the Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.