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Mahmoud Desouky
Mahmoud Desouky (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 16. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 10, 2025.
Desouky completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Mahmoud Desouky graduated from South Brunswick High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in 2024. His career experience includes working as a business owner.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025
General election
General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 (2 seats)
Incumbent Mitchelle Drulis, incumbent Roy Freiman, Catherine Payne, and Scott Sipos are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Mitchelle Drulis (D) | |
 | Roy Freiman (D) | |
| Catherine Payne (R) | ||
| Scott Sipos (R) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 (2 seats)
Incumbent Mitchelle Drulis and incumbent Roy Freiman defeated Mahmoud Desouky in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 on June 10, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mitchelle Drulis | 44.7 | 16,899 |
| ✔ | | Roy Freiman | 44.3 | 16,745 |
| Mahmoud Desouky | 11.0 | 4,140 | ||
| Total votes: 37,784 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 (2 seats)
Scott Sipos and Catherine Payne advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 16 on June 10, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Scott Sipos | 51.6 | 12,113 | |
| ✔ | Catherine Payne | 48.4 | 11,367 | |
| Total votes: 23,480 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mahmoud Desouky completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Desouky's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Protecting and Advancing Free Speech: Living in America as a young activist and as a former student leader at Rutgers University, Mahmoud believes that free speech is a pillar of democracy and is predominantly important when fostering innovation, civic engagement and providing an environment where a community can thrive. Mahmoud believes that protecting free speech is about upholding our constitutional rights and ensuring that all residents, regardless of background or belief, can participate fairly in public discourse. The Trump administration has actively sought to undermine our First Amendment protections, however, Mahmoud aims to ensure that no political agenda can erode such fundamental freedoms.
- Affordability: A Fresh Start for New Jersey Families. As a young person & small business owner, Mahmoud understands the affordability challenges that families & individuals in NJ face daily. Mahmoud believes it is critical to enact policies that lower the cost of living, improve housing accessibility and supply, and support economic stability for all Jerseyans. As a State Assemblyman, Mahmoud would support a temporary cap on all rent increases across the state at cost-of-living adjustments to stabilize costs and support regulations on private equity and investment firms from pricing out everyday families and aspiring first-time homeowners. In an era of a growing wealth gap, Mahmoud promises to champion innovative & practical solutions.
- Ensuring Environmental Sustainability and Clean Energy For All: As a member of Gen Z, Mahmoud is acutely aware of the current climate crisis that residents of NJ face. That is why on his first day as a State Assembly member, Mahmoud will co-sponsor or support legislation such as the “Climate Superfund Act”, the “Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act”, & resolutions to require data centers to obtain their electricity from new zero- or low-emission sources of energy. NJ has set an ambitious target of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035, & as an Assembly member Mahmoud will ensure that NJ stays on track to achieving environmental sustainability and a just energy transition for all.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
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Candidate New Jersey General Assembly District 16 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 22, 2025
