A fighter for New Jersey's working families
Donald Norcross is an electrician by trade who has dedicated his life to fighting for New Jersey’s working families. He is a champion for good jobs and fair wages, healthcare for all, accessible and affordable higher education options, equality for women, quality health care for our veterans, a strong nation and safe neighborhoods.
Donald was born and raised in South Jersey. He began his career in organized labor in 1979, working as an electrical apprentice, connecting and restoring power for homes and businesses across the region. He rose through the ranks of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to become a business agent for Local 351. He is former president of the Southern New Jersey Building Trades Council and served as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council for 16 years.
At times during his career, Donald had to draw from unemployment and disability, and he recognizes that working families often struggle to make ends meet. That’s why he strongly supports increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, giving hundreds of thousands of residents the raise they deserve. He worked with a broad coalition to raise the wage in New Jersey, and is now committed to doing it nationally.
Donald graduated from Camden County College and a skilled apprenticeship program, and he fully understands the value of a quality, affordable education that connects young minds with rewarding careers. With his support, our local county colleges now each have partnerships that make the transition to Rowan or Rutgers Universities easier and more affordable. And he has been a strong advocate for students interested in learning lifelong skills through vocational, technical, and apprenticeship training.
As a husband, father and grandfather, Donald knows that women are the foundation of our families. Donald is fighting to ensure women get equal pay for equal work. He wants to make sure women have access to affordable quality healthcare and childcare and guaranteed paid maternity leave.
Donald has been a forceful advocate for national security and led a successful effort to protect and strengthen New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. He has become a leading advocate for battling the disease of addiction, which is critical for both our national security and public health.
Donald is deeply committed to his community and has been active in the United Way of Camden County for close to two decades, and served as its chairman from 2002 through 2004. He helped to create and run the non-profit Union Organization for Social Service (UOSS), the nation’s first labor agency devoted to community service. He is also a founding member of The Home Port Alliance, a coalition that brought back the USS New Jersey – the most decorated battleship in U.S. history – to serve as a monument for veterans and a major attraction for the revitalization of the Camden Waterfront.
Donald previously served in the New Jersey Legislature, where he developed a reputation as an effective, bipartisan reformer. He championed a massive job creation program that has brought multiple companies and thousands of jobs to our region. He led an historic effort to modernize our state’s higher education system that has put New Jersey on the map as a research and medical sciences education hub. And he successfully reformed our state’s bail system to keep violent offenders out of our communities.
Donald and his wife live in the City of Camden. He is the father of three and grandfather of three.