U.S. Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver to Headline CAWP’s Ready to Run®

WHEN: Friday, March 21 – Saturday, March 22, 2025

WHERE: Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

RSVP: Registration via press contact is encouraged. Please email amani.mansour@eagleton.rutgers.edu with inquiries or to register. Plenary sessions, including keynotes, are open press. Breakout sessions and workshops are off the record, but press can attend and take photographs and b-roll footage. During breaks and between sessions, press can interview participants with their approval. 

U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) and U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) – members of New Jersey’s record-breaking delegation of four women currently serving in the U.S. Congress, the largest number of women to simultaneously represent the Garden State in Washington – will headline a keynote conversation on leadership, resilience, and navigating the challenges of public office at the 2025 Ready to Run® New Jersey campaign training. Hosted by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics, Ready to Run® New Jersey is the flagship program of CAWP’s national nonpartisan initiative that provides training, mentorship, and networking opportunities for women preparing to run for office. 

The training brings together an inspiring lineup of elected officials and political experts to help women from across the Garden State gain the tools and confidence to enter the political arena. With a tailored curriculum of hands-on workshops and discussions, the program is designed to meet the political moment of 2025 and close the gender gap in politics.

Assemblymember Shama Haider (District 37) will deliver the diversity initiative opening keynote, setting the stage for the pre-conference sessions designed to support women of color, including Black, Latina, and Asian American women. In 2021, Haider became one of the first two Muslim women and one of the first three Asian American women elected to the New Jersey Legislature.

The program will feature the additional plenary sessions:

• “Strategic Campaign Communications” featuring Karen Finney, CNN political commentator and spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign
• “Digital Strategies for Candidates, Campaigns, and Advocates” featuring Tara Dowdell, digital strategies expert and president of Tara Dowdell Group
• “Fundraising for Success” featuring Kimberly Peeler-Allen, Higher Heights co-founder and CAWP visiting practitioner 

The conference will provide practical guidance on how to launch a campaign for office, mobilize voters, and engage in effective advocacy, while also exploring pathways to political influence beyond elected office, such as appointments to public boards and commissions, party involvement, and civic leadership. 

Despite making up more than half of the population, women remain underrepresented in political leadership. According to CAWP’s latest research, From Data to Diversity 2025: The Demographics of New Jersey’s Elected and Appointed Officials, women comprise just 30.5% of officeholders across all levels of office in New Jersey. Ready to Run® New Jersey provides essential resources and mentorship to close the gender gap in politics and government. 

Get the full Ready to Run® New Jersey agenda here.

About Ready to Run®

Ready to Run® is CAWP's nationally recognized signature campaign training program, providing women with the tools and inspiration to seek elected or appointed office, manage campaigns, and participate in public life. The flagship program in New Jersey has trained over 5,000 women for public leadership. Surveys have shown that more than a third of participants go on to run for office, with 70% winning their elections. Ready to Run® alumnae are serving in federal, state, and local elected offices around the country while other participants have gone on to political campaign careers, appointed government positions, and party leadership. The comprehensive curriculum covers campaign organization and fundraising, media strategy, navigating political parties, grassroots organizing and voter outreach. The network currently spans 21 states.