Joanne Kuniansky of West New York is the Socialist Workers Party nominee for U.S. Senate in New Jersey. She faces Cory Booker (Democratic), Justin Murphy (Republican) and Veronica Fernandez (End The Corruption) in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.

Asked about her top priority, Kuniansky said in our candidate questionnaire that she stands "with fellow workers resisting the bosses' attacks on our jobs, wages and working conditions; building unions; opposing the US rulers' blockade and threats against Cuba; defending Jews from growing attack; and calling for an amnesty for workers in the US without papers."

Candidate information

Party: Socialist Workers Party

Residence: West New York, New Jersey

Occupation and work history: Kuniansky said in our questionnaire: "Joanne Kuniansky is a 49-year veteran of the Socialist Workers Party. She met party members during her involvement in the fight to decriminalize abortion and for women's rights, became convinced a socialist revolution is possible and joined the SWP. In the late 1960s, she was part of the struggle to desegregate her high school in Atlanta, Georgia."

She has worked as a deli worker at Walmart, in an oil refinery and in the meatpacking industry, according to Patch.

Experience and public service

Kuniansky has run multiple campaigns on the Socialist Workers Party ticket, according to Patch and InsiderNJ: governor of New Jersey in 2021 and 2025, U.S. House District 8 in 2022, State Senate District 33 in 2023 and U.S. Senate in 2024.

On the issues

Economy and cost of living: Kuniansky said in our questionnaire: "A union-led fight for a public works program is needed to provide jobs at union-scale wages to build hospitals, childcare centers and other infrastructure — as is a fight for a shorter workweek with no cut in pay. In the face of skyrocketing prices for food, gas, rent we demand automatic cost-of-living increases in union contracts, pensions, social security."

She added: "Through struggles working people can be won to the need organize independently of the bosses and their twin parties, the Democrats and Republicans."

Immigration: Kuniansky said in our questionnaire: "Democrats and Republicans seek to divide workers by blaming immigrants for the problems caused by the workings of capitalism and forcing workers without papers to live in fear of deportation. A union-led fight for amnesty for all undocumented workers is needed to unify the working class and strengthen our unions."

She called it "a life- and-death question for the labor movement."

Health care: Kuniansky said in our questionnaire: "Under capitalism health care is a business to maximize the bosses' profits—not meet human need. Thousands of nurses are using unions to fight workloads that put patients' lives at risk and to demand more jobs." She said the Cuban Revolution "made health care universal" and set "an example worldwide."

National security and Iran: Kuniansky said in our questionnaire: "There are two sharply different wars against Iran. An imperialist war by the U.S. rulers to plunder the oil, gas, and labor of the region … And a defensive war by Israel to prevent the Jew-hating regime in Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to launch them to advance the goal they share with Hamas and Hezbollah of destroying Israel and carrying out another Holocaust."

She called for "U.S. troops out of the Middle East" and to "Defend Israel's right to exist as a refuge for Jews."

Antisemitism: Kuniansky has said New Jersey has the third-highest level of attacks on Jews in the country and that those attacks have sharply escalated since Oct. 7, 2023, according to WHYY. She has made fighting discrimination against Jewish residents a top priority, she said.

Candidate responses were collected through the Cherry Hill Courier's candidate questionnaire. Answers have been excerpted for length but not otherwise edited.