Democrat · New Jersey's 1st District · 2026
Donald Norcross
Norcross became an electrician after attending community college and raised his first son as a single father.
Biography
Donald Norcross was a single parent who worked minimum wage jobs and sometimes needed unemployment insurance.1 Today, he lives in Camden County with his wife, Andrea, and has three adult children and four grandchildren.1
He began an IBEW electrical apprenticeship in 1979, then spent years connecting power to New Jersey businesses and industrial sites.21 He became a business agent for IBEW Local 351 and served as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO.1 His public service included the state Assembly and Senate before his election to Congress in 2014.3
Norcross serves on Education and Workforce and Armed Services, including as the senior Democrat on Tactical Air and Land Forces.1 He cofounded the Labor Caucus and bipartisan Building Trades Caucus.1 He introduced the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act and Warehouse Worker Protection Act, proposals addressing employer antiunion activity and workplace safety.1
His current priorities include a federal minimum wage of at least $20, affordable healthcare and lower prescription costs, including Medicare price negotiation.2 He also advocates Buy America purchasing policies and support for the defense industrial base.1 He supports immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship and opposes election rules he believes would unnecessarily exclude eligible voters.2 Republican Damon Galdo is challenging him for another House term.4
Record and controversies
Tax incentives and family connections
Norcross cosponsored New Jersey's 2013 tax incentive law; firms connected to his brothers benefited.5 Donald was not among the six defendants in the related 2024 racketeering case, and said he believed in the rule of law and wanted his brothers to have their opportunity to defend themselves.6
The case against those defendants ended in February 2026 after prosecutors declined another appeal of its dismissal.7 The appellate court had found counts untimely, insufficient to state a crime, or both; the indictment's allegations should not be presented as established crimes.7