Dominic Tierno

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Dominic Tierno

Democratic Party

Education

High school

Collingswood High School

Bachelor's

Stockton University, 2019

Personal

Birthplace

Philadelphia, Pa.

Religion

Agnostic

Dominic Tierno (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 5. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on June 10, 2025.

Tierno completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Dominic Tierno was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Collingswood High School. He attended Camden County College and earned a bachelor's degree from Stockton University in 2019. He has been affiliated with Food and Water Watch and the South Jersey Progressive Democrats.

Elections

2025

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 (2 seats)

Incumbent William F. Moen Jr., incumbent William W. Spearman, Constance Ditzel, Nilsa Gonzalez, and Robin Brownfield are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	William F. Moen Jr. (D)
		William W. Spearman (D)
	Submit photo	Constance Ditzel (R)
	Submit photo	Nilsa Gonzalez (R)
		Robin Brownfield (G)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 (2 seats)

Incumbent William W. Spearman and incumbent William F. Moen Jr. advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		William W. Spearman	50.7	22,116
✔	Submit photo	William F. Moen Jr.	49.3	21,485

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 43,601
= 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.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Dominic Tierno (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 (2 seats)

Constance Ditzel and Nilsa Gonzalez advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 5 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Constance Ditzel	51.5	5,571
✔	Submit photo	Nilsa Gonzalez	48.5	5,238

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,809
= 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

Dominic Tierno completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tierno's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a lifelong resident of New Jersey, and have lived within the current boundaries of the 5th Legislative District my entire life. My K-12 education was primarily accomplished in Collingswood, ultimately culminating with a GED in 2011. After a brief tenure at Camden County College, I transferred to Stockton University where I proudly served in student leadership while earning my B.A. in Political Science concentrated in International Affairs. I was also inducted into the National Political Science Honor Society and served on our school's Model UN team as Vice President and President over seven conferences.

Following my graduation at Stockton life has been filled with challenges. As someone who suffers from severe Crohn's Disease, I was unable to do much since graduating. In taking time to focus on my health I was forced to rely on public services such as Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and even SSI. Knowing how difficult it is to survive on these benefits, I became passionate in seeing improvements to our state and federal social safety nets. In that passion I have decided to run for office to improve the lives of constituents as a civil servant.

Today, I am excited to be running for the State Assembly as a progressive Democrat. Key policy issues for me include environmental resilience and clean energy, healthcare, improving our schools, and creating a community focused political structure aimed at making constituents feel more connected to our legislative process.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• New Jersey's legislature has been at the mercy of a political establishment which has ignored constituents in favor of the whims of party bosses. The establishment needs to be reminded that they do not own seats in the State Legislature. These seats are supposed to be owned by the public and swayed by the public. Yet, instead big political donors, family political dynasties, and powerful corporations have been treating these seats as something to be rented out to those willing to carry out their legislative agendas. Not with me. I will serve the constituents and only the constituents, and my campaign will not be taking money from PACs, large donors, or corporations. It will be grassroots politics for all, and not just a privileged few.
• In light of the turmoil faced in our federal government, it is becoming necessary for states to start providing services such as healthcare to their people. Thus, it is my view that New Jersey should invest in a single-payer healthcare program. If healthcare is provided to every New Jerseyan as a right, then we can relieve small businesses of their need to provide healthcare to their employees, potentially saving them crucial funds in light of economic instability. The people who receive these plans will be free of high premiums, deductibles, and egregious prescription drug costs. Despite the taxes required to fund this program, the cost-savings to individuals and families will be significant, and provide relief in a meaningful way.
• The State Legislature must pass the NJ Superfund Act, an act I personally support. With its passage fossil fuel companies will be forced to pay fines for damages caused by their neglect. We can clean our waterways, restore our contaminated lands, and even invest in disaster risk reduction initiatives to better protect lives and infrastructure from future severe weather events. Because this will be funded solely by the fines from fossil fuel companies, this initiative would come at no cost to the taxpayer. So, while New Jersey restores its natural environments and improves infrastructure, the people of the state can sit back and rest easily knowing it will in no way impact the already high tax rates they pay.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am personally passionate about healthcare policies, first and foremost. Even if NJ doesn't pass a single-payer healthcare program, I think we should commit to passing legislation that allows the state to audit claim denials made by health insurance companies who operate in our state.

I am also passionate about environmental issues. No longer should the residents of places like Camden have to worry about their health because of frequent toxic fires or trash incinerators. In fact, if anything we should be closing places that cause such damages and provide relief services to impacted residents who have suffered from, or may suffer from health issues stemming from these injustices.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

I think if you want to understand me and my political philosophy you should look no farther than the fictional United Earth in Star Trek. United Earth has a proverbial utopian living standard in which every citizen's needs are met. This leaves people to focus on things that are important to them and humanity as a whole. Poverty, most diseases, inequalities and racial injustices, and oligarchic levels of wealth consolidation are no longer issues on Earth by the 23rd century in that series. I feel that's a future humanity should strive for. A future where we no longer fear losing our homes, dying of preventable illnesses, working as wage slaves for multi-billionaires and their too big to fail corporations, or even war is a future worth fighting for.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Elected officials must remember that they are civil servants. They are there to serve, and serve the people. They aren't elected by party bosses, corporate donors, PACs, or special interests. They are elected by the people, and must serve the interests of the people. The need to connect to their constituents, listen to their concerns, never be dismissive, be empathetic and kind, and they should never see themselves as being better than any of their constituents. In my mind legislators are equal to everyone else, and deserve no special treatment for their position in government. Elected officials at any level cannot put up a proverbial iron curtain between them and their constituents, especially considering they are passing bills that affect their constituents everyday lives. Legislation has real impact and real consequences. Thus, these officials must answer to the people and only the people. To serve in an elected office is a privilege, not a right, and that privilege should be stripped from an official for acting against the public interest in open, honest, and fair elections.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'm not concerned with a legacy or anything like that. I just want to do the right thing and help others as best I can. If history wants to remember me? So be it. Really, my ego is not so inflated that it results in me obsessing about my name being put on buildings, statues being erected in my honor, bills being named after me or anything like that. I just want to be a person serving people. I'll let history form its own opinions.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first truly major historical event that happened in my lifetime might be 9/11? It was certainly the first historical event that left an impact on me personally, as I was only nine years old at the time. Watching that day unfold on live television still feels surreal, even in my 30s.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Captain Christopher Pike as portrayed by Anson Mount in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He, in my eyes, is the perfect example of everything a selfless leader should be, and that is something I personally aspire to. Plus, that hair is glorious.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga has been stuck in my head for the better part of two months now, and honestly I'm okay with that.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Living with Crohn's Disease has been one of the hardest things I've dealt with over the past nearly 18 years. As it's an invisible illness I don't appear outwardly sick to others, and so it has led to many forms of discrimination in work and school over the years. Often I was denied reasonable accommodations, and despite my best efforts to be as transparent and open about my condition as possible? I still faced undue threats of punishment for things that were outside my control. On a more personal level, I've dealt with surgeries, frequent diagnostic tests, I require regular blood tests, I've needed blood transfusions, iron infusions, and I've even nearly lost my life. Though it has weighed on me heavily both mentally and physically, I still push myself to do what I can within my physical limitations. Acknowledging my limitations at has been a challenge for me, especially as those limitations make me feel as though I'm less of a person than those around me. Still, to have this illness has allowed me to empathize better with others who are going through personal struggles, so I have been doing my best to harness my illness as a tool to be there for others in whatever capacity I can.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

Personally, I'd like to just serve in this seat and take things one day at a time if I'm even elected. I never was politically ambitious, nor did I ever seek power. I merely want to help others in a position that I know I can excel in. If by extension of that service people wish for me to serve in a different office? Then I will certainly consider it. However, it's not a decision I would ever make unilaterally.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Why should we be hiding anything from the public? Financial transparency in campaigns, municipal, state, and federal budgets is a cornerstone to building trust with constituents. Dark money in politics has destroyed any semblance of accountability. It results in corruption at all levels and must be put to an end. Likewise, backroom political dealings made out of the public eye are also damaging to the trust between elected officials and their constituents. It prevents the public from holding their officials accountable in an effective manner, and creates a level of distrust that breeds apathetic at best, and cynical at worst attitudes towards government and the officials within. This trend hurts political participation in the public, hurts voter turnouts, and alienates voters from the people who are affecting their daily lives. So, I feel it is essential that transparency not only be mandatory, but that subsequent transparency reports should be made as easily accessible as possible to restore public trust.

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

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the New Jersey General Assembly

Leadership

Representatives

District 1

Antwan McClellan (R)

Erik Simonsen (R)

District 2

Don Guardian (R)

Claire Swift (R)

District 3

Dave Bailey (D)

Heather Simmons (D)

District 4

Dan Hutchison (D)

Cody Miller (D)

District 5

William Moen (D)

William Spearman (D)

District 6

Louis Greenwald (D)

Melinda Kane (D)

District 7

Carol Murphy (D)

Balvir Singh (D)

District 8

Andrea Katz (D)

Michael Torrissi (R)

District 9

Gregory Myhre (R)

Brian Rumpf (R)

District 10

Paul Kanitra (R)

Gregory McGuckin (R)

District 11

Margie Donlon (D)

Luanne Peterpaul (D)

District 12

Robert Clifton (R)

Alex Sauickie (R)

District 13

Victoria Flynn (R)

Gerard Scharfenberger (R)

District 14

Wayne DeAngelo (D)

Tennille McCoy (D)

District 15

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)

Anthony Verrelli (D)

District 16

Mitchelle Drulis (D)

Roy Freiman (D)

District 17

Joseph Danielsen (D)

Kevin Egan (D)

District 18

Robert Karabinchak (D)

Sterley Stanley (D)

District 19

Craig Coughlin (D)

Yvonne Lopez (D)

District 20

Reginald Atkins (D)

Annette Quijano (D)

District 21

Michele Matsikoudis (R)

Nancy Muñoz (R)

District 22

Linda Carter (D)

James Kennedy (D)

District 23

John DiMaio (R)

Erik Peterson (R)

District 24

Dawn Fantasia (R)

Michael Inganamort (R)

District 25

Christian Barranco (R)

Aura Dunn (R)

District 26

Brian Bergen (R)

Jay Webber (R)

District 27

Rosy Bagolie (D)

Alixon Collazos-Gill (D)

District 28

Garnet Hall (D)

Cleopatra Tucker (D)

District 29

Eliana Marin (D)

Shanique Speight (D)

District 30

Sean Kean (R)

Avi Schnall (D)

District 31

William Sampson (D)

Barbara Stamato (D)

District 32

John Allen (D)

Jessica Ramirez (D)

District 33

Julio Marenco (D)

Gabriel Rodriguez (D)

District 34

Carmen Morales (D)

Michael Venezia (D)

District 35

Alaa Abdelaziz (D)

Shavonda Sumter (D)

District 36

Clinton Calabrese (D)

Gary Schaer (D)

District 37

Shama Haider (D)

Ellen Park (D)

District 38

Lisa Swain (D)

Chris Tully (D)

District 39

Robert Auth (R)

John Azzariti (R)

District 40

Al Barlas (R)

Christopher DePhillips (R)

Democratic Party (52)

Republican Party (28)