Jennie Pu, director of Hoboken Public Library (HPL), NJ, has announced her run for New Jersey’s 32nd Legislative District Assembly. Pu, who has led HPL since 2021, would be the first librarian to run for state office in New Jersey (joining librarians Kathy Zappitello, who ran for Ohio state representative in 2022, and Rebekah Cummings, who ran for Lieutenant Governor of Utah in 2024). If elected, Pu will be the first Chinese American lawmaker in the state’s history and the first Asian American woman to represent Hudson County.

A parent volunteer and PTA leader, Pu served as school librarian in the Jersey City Public Schools and as dean of libraries at Hudson County Community College. She sits on the Urban Libraries Council Board of Directors and is an American Library Association Policy Corps member, and—among many other accolades for her work as a champion of intellectual freedom—in 2024 was named both New Jersey Library Association Librarian of the Year and an LJ Mover & Shaker.

Hudson County Democratic Organization leaders and executive committee, as well as State Sen. Raj Mukherji, are supporting Pu and fellow candidate Crystal Fonseca, Jersey City Division Director of Buildings and Street Maintenance. As she gears up to begin campaigning before the June primary, LJ caught up with Pu to find out more about her run.

LJ : What went into the decision to throw your hat in the ring?

JP: I’ve been asked a few times in the past to run for office. I said no for various reasons, but this last time I decided I owed it to myself, and to the people I hope to represent, to give it some thought. The reason I’m running is because we need someone like me, an everyday person who understands everyday concerns, to represent us in Trenton. I’m a mom, longtime PTA leader, longtime community person. I’ve been living here in Jersey City, and now working in Hoboken, for almost 20 years. I’m just a normal person—it doesn’t get much more normal than librarian. It’s a big decision for our family. I’ll be honest, it’s scary to put yourself out there. And librarians, in the last few years, know exactly what that feels like for just doing our job. I want to continue putting myself out there and take this next big step.

PTA was really big for me in Jersey City, and I’ve been a trustee on my neighborhood association for a couple of years. We’ve had a lot of PTA leaders step up into elected office, because that’s national constituency work— finding solutions for real nitty-gritty everyday problems.

My mother, despite being a first-generation immigrant working a number of jobs and trying to raise three girls, got involved at the school level as a volunteer PTA mom. I think that early on, that model of community and civic engagement really informed how I was to lead my life later on—I mean, talk about taking a risk. You’re first generation, you are learning all the structures of public schools, and yet my mom still found time and energy and the willingness to get involved at a very local level at school. My mom got us involved with PTA, with book fairs, and, of course, my parents took us to our local public library in Connecticut.

I’m not a professional debater. I’m going up against a trial lawyer, a city lawyer, the mayor, and a policy wonk. My running mate is great—she’s an experienced candidate. She’s served on the Newark School Board, she’s run for city council. I’m blessed to run with her. And then there’s me, librarian mom.

How has your work in libraries and advocacy for freedom to read fed your interest in running?

We need more librarians in elected office. Whether you’re a library director or you’re a library assistant, we always talk about the role of advocacy, and the natural step is: Let’s put one of ours in the decision-making tree, as part of the decision-making process, because no one can advocate for us better than one of our own. As librarians, we’re naturally political, because we have to work with everyone, and we do it so well. So many of my peers have been tremendously influential to me, because I see the work they do building support across all kinds of constituencies and across party lines.

So much of what’s happening at the federal level is deeply upsetting. We’re looking at an administration that’s actively undermining our democracy, not unlike with book banning. My focus will be on local level issues, and, of course, we will fight as hard as we can. No one will fight harder than a mother and a librarian for funding for our public schools, public institutions, public safety—it informs all that. It’s a scary time to jump in, but what I’ve learned from my wonderful colleagues is that you walk into your fear, and walk through that fear, and address it head on.

Senator Raj Mukherji has been the most prolific legislator. He’s a great ally to the people. He was the cosponsor of the freedom to read bill. But beyond that, he’s incredibly effective, someone who loves the people in this district, so I’m lucky to be led by someone who has a track record, who is in the fight and continues to fight, and brings us along with him.

What does your platform consist of?

My platform is: real solutions for everyday people. My three priorities are going to be, one, focusing on advocating for more state aid and resources to control the local school tax burden on our residents, advocating at the state level to reform the school funding formula. Two, improving public safety. This is a topic for librarians—the way libraries have stepped up with adding social services, adding security, training our staff, we see that in our spaces. And now, more than ever, I think our constituency here needs to see some real solutions, and that ties all back into making sure we have housing solutions for the homeless, making sure that we can balance enforcement and compassion. The third one is public transit here. I often bike because it’s faster than taking the bus, and that’s a problem because so many of our residents rely on transit. So, advocating for more funding and a better mass transit solution. That’s not all of it, but those are my top three priorities.

What will your campaign look like?

I think my strength is on the ground engagement with voters. This is the work I’ve been doing for a long time in the library, in the community, one-to-one relationship building. So, a ton of door knocking, going to neighborhood associations, meeting people, talking to them, listening to them. It’s going to be a full-blown sprint, because the primary election day is June 10. We will have a general election in the fall, but we’re focusing everything on getting people out to vote, getting people to know me and my running mate, and casting that vote.

Will you continue with your library director duties?

Of course, full on. In fact, we are kicking off our next phase of renovation for the first floor, the mezzanine—it’ll be beautiful. This is a part-time legislative position, so if I am so honored to have that seat I will continue to work in this role and advocate on behalf of libraries, library workers, everyday people.

Now, more than ever, we need librarians stepping up to the plate, and I look forward to the support I get from the library community. Let’s show folks that libraries are needed now more than ever, and that no one can speak better to the issues of everyday people than a librarian. The core of our work with literacy—we need an informed electorate. We need people to be able to be able to read and think for themselves. We have so much to do now, this is just taking it to a higher level.

And then raising the visibility of what libraries and librarians do, day in day out: Try to provide good services on public dollars, try to provide value. We’re stewards of these beloved institutions, of big budgets, of people, resources. We have been entrusted with this, and we’ve been excellent stewards.