Quinton Law recently made Moorestown history by becoming the town’s first Black mayor. He has long advocated for his community, focusing on making history and impactful changes for the people of Moorestown. 

He was first appointed to the Moorestown Town Council in 2021 and became Mayor on January 9, 2025. Mayor Law focused on bringing people in his community together through his role. As a third-generation Moorestownian, he grew up in the center of Moorestown, graduating from Moorestown High School in 2015 and pursuing an Economics and Public Policy at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Now that Law has returned home, he is excited to continue playing a vital role in the town he has always participated in. 

Note: This interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, was conducted over Google Meets. 

WordsWorth: How did it feel to be elected Moorestown’s first Black mayor? What was your and your community’s reaction?

Quinton Law: Being the first Black mayor is extremely exciting, and I think it says a lot about our community. It shows that we have come a long way and have some ways to go. Still, as a community founded on Quaker values and principles, we must acknowledge this moment and use it as a catalyst to keep progress moving forward.

WW: What does your Moorestown community mean to you personally?

QL: Being elected as the first Black council member meant the world to me; my grandmother moved to this community 50 years ago, and not too long after, the road of the house she bought was built to expand black housing in Moorestown. For me, it means so much that she could vote for her grandson to become the first Black council member and, eventually, the first Black mayor in Moorestown’s history. So it means so much to my family, and I certainly wouldn’t be here without them, and I also wouldn’t be here without the support of this community.

WW: Even though you’ve been mayor for a short amount of time, how has it been so far?

QL: Life is excellent as always, but it’s busy. But I played Division One sports. I grew up as an athlete that was always on a tight schedule. So, it’s nothing new for me, and being busy and productive is good. Although it has been a busy time, we’re getting a lot of good work done, and I’m excited to keep that ball rolling.

WW: Can you share your journey and what inspired you to pursue your political career?

QL: I grew up here in Moorestown. My parents met at Moorestown High School, and they had me shortly after graduating as teenagers. Growing up with young parents in this community, I saw firsthand some of the disparities that come with it — things like being Medicaid-insured and experiences that were shaped by policy. Quickly, I learned that it affects some of these disparities in policy, and that’s what motivated me to major in economics when I went to college. I wanted to learn how public policy affects our local economies.

I decided to work on electoral campaigns for people advancing policies I believed in. That eventually led me to serve in the U.S. Senate, where I fought for New Jerseyans to get their VA (Veterans Affairs) and IRS (Internal Revenue Service) benefits and even helped those in the federal prison system access PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and vaccinations during the pandemic. 

Seeing how federal policies can affect people on the local level, I wanted to look at my community and see how we were being represented.  

In 2020, after the death of George Floyd, young leaders across the country were stepping up and getting involved. I was telling people that representation in government matters, and I looked at our community here in Moorestown, and I thought, “Wow, no one that looks like or comes from my background has ever represented us in our local government.” And in that moment, I made the decision.

I was 23 years old. I was like, “You know what, let’s go for it.” So I did, and I won, and at the time, I was elected as the youngest council member in Moorestown history.

WW: How have your experiences in education and advocacy shaped where you are right now in your current position?

QL: Working in Senator Booker’s office during the pandemic showed me how important it is to have programs that can support people in times of global crisis and then uncertainty. How important it is to have unemployment and a functional IRS [Internal Revenue Service] so people who pay their taxes can get their needed tax refunds. Because there are millions of people in our country relying on tax refunds every year, that showed me how important it is to ensure that people have their Social Security and Medicare because there are millions of disabled Americans living in the United States without family. 

The only thing that’s keeping them in the housing that they’re in is their Social Security income, and we forget about these people. National conversations are happening about cutting Social Security. Some people are gonna be adversely affected, and those are people with disabilities and adults with disabilities.

And that just fueled something in me where I was like, we need more people talking about these things. I’m a proponent of reforming the government to be more efficient, better, and more effective for its constituents. Still, we also need to ensure we have the resources for people. It shouldn’t strip resources from the folks that need them most. In my day job, I worked full-time at the American Cancer Society, where I fight daily for policies that assist folks and their families battling cancer. Through these experiences, I learned that everybody needs a voice, especially in the halls of Congress and the halls of the state legislature. I always tell folks to understand how to change the system. You need to have an understanding of how it works. 

WW: What setbacks or challenges have you encountered since being sworn in over a month ago?

QL: I’ll say that during my first official meeting as mayor in January, we accepted our round four affordable housing obligation, which is a state-mandated constitutional obligation to provide accessible and affordable housing in your community. The state gives every municipality in New Jersey a quota for the number of affordable units they have to construct in the following round. Each town has the option to either accept or deny that number. Some towns are looking at the number and saying, “Nope, we don’t want to build more affordable housing.” Particularly in Moorestown, recognizing that for the last three decades, we haven’t built any new affordable housing, we decided to accept the number and provide affordable housing in our community because it’s something that’s needed, and we are losing long-term, Moorestonians because they’re being priced out of our community without any other affordable option. We’re working to expand that and make sure that there’s accessible and affordable housing in Moorestown, so our teachers, firefighters, and working families that make Moorestown the community it is can stay here.

WW: What goals do you have for the future of Moorestown?

QL: We’re looking at one of the largest infrastructure projects Moorestown has seen in a long time. We’re replacing our Main Street water main. Our water runs through a 100-year-old water main on Main Street. It should have been replaced decades ago, but due to, frankly, just unwillingness from former town councils to do this, we are now faced with having to tackle this project. So I’m committed to ensuring it gets done.

There’s no Democratic, Republican, or Independent way to replace a water main. What people want is for it to get done, and I’m all about delivering tangible results for everyone in Moorestown, whether they voted for me or whether they didn’t. I believe that’s what’s kept me on council, and what’s allowed me to become mayor of this great town is because I’m committed to working for all of us in our community and ensuring that whatever we do I’m a responsible steward for taxpayer dollars, and I make every decision with the thought of what is best for every resident in our community.

Another thing I’m focused on [is] pedestrian and traffic safety. If you two walk on Main Street, you know that those crosswalks can be dangerous at times. We need to slow cars down. Point blank, period. It needs to be safer for cyclists, pedestrians, and [all] people navigating traffic throughout our community. 

In November, the township passed a resolution declaring ourselves a Vision Zero community. It’s a traffic safety initiative that’s happening across the country. We’re proud to have become a Vision Zero community, and it’s going to pave the way, no pun intended for how our policy is going to be going forward, which will be safer for everyone in town. You might notice on Second Street that we’ve added new stop signs and speed bumps. 

That’s a huge priority for me, especially as someone who grew up in this community. I used to bike around it all the time. 

We also want to make sure that we preserve our open space, take care of our parks, and upgrade them, so every Moorestownian can get the most out of their public resources on that front. I’ve led the way on park investments, and my council members have been adamant about making sure that our parks are the best they can be for everyone.

WW: What specifics about Moorestown do you like, and what makes Moorestown unique to you?

QL: It’s a small town, but it has that small-town feel. It’s a vibrant community, but it also has a historic charm. You feel the historic charm of the American Revolution, which we have a deep history and connection to here in Moorestown. You can see how vibrant our community is on Moorestown Day or Autumn in Moorestown where there are thousands of people on Main Street supporting our businesses.

It makes you feel [you’re] here in a vibrant, close community where I know everybody. 

And then on top of that, the location is amazing. There’s so much that our community has to offer. You know, our beautiful Main Street, our mall that’s going to have some very exciting things soon. I just think that we’re such a multi-dimensional town. We don’t just have that one thing that everyone likes.

WW: What message would you give to young people from other underrepresented communities who want to be politically engaged? 

QL: In a world where diversity and inclusion are under attack, please don’t ever forget that representation matters. We need to have representation, not just in government, but in leadership roles, boardrooms, and in our schools, teaching our children, representation matters, we need to strive to make sure that our teams are diverse because diversity is our strength. And many young people struggle with imposter syndrome, or they come up with reasons why they can’t do it. I tell them, “Do not let your inability to change the world, your inability to do everything, stop you from doing something” because we need more people that get up and say, “Hey, I might not be able to solve all the problems tomorrow. What I can do is do something to start to address the problem today.” The most important thing is to do something: the culmination of small victories and small wins makes a difference in the long run and can change our country for the better.