Fresh off his re-election to Congress for a fifth term, Rep. Josh Gottheimer made it official Friday. The Wyckoff Democrat is running for New Jersey governor.
Gottheimer announced his intention to seek his party’s nomination to a standing room only crowd at the Runway Diner in South Hackensack on Friday morning.
He joked that “everything good in Jersey starts in a diner” so “what better way to take off than from right here at the Runway Diner.”
The congressman said that he loves New Jersey and the state is in his roots and his bones, spanning generations.
“Jersey has given me and my family so much opportunity. I want to make sure everyone has the same shot to get a degree, go into a trade, start a business or get a good paying job, to raise their families and do it all year,” Gottheimer said. “My pride in Jersey is shared by millions.”
But, he said, the Garden State has gotten too expensive and said that, if elected, he wants to prioritize affordability.
Focusing his nearly 20-minute speech almost entirely on affordability and what he described as “Jersey values,” Gottheimer laid out what he would strive to do in office.
He leaned into the stereotypes often associated with the Garden State by quipping more than once about being willing to fight back — against President-elect Donald Trump or anyone else — because he’s from Jersey.
Referring to himself as the “lower taxes, lower cost governor of New Jersey,” Gottheimer said his campaign would built on four core beliefs: that taxes are too high, that bureaucracy that limits government function and must be addressed, that there is more to be done to create job opportunities and that New Jersey’s economy must grow.
He said he would work to expand the state’s child tax credit, support the StayNJ plan and work to bring utility costs down with more affordable energy.
Gottheimer also pledged to keep fighting the congestion pricing plan announced by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this week.
He also pledged to create a “clawback czar” to fight to bring federal money back to the state, to implement a law against the antisemites harassing Jewish people and to continue supporting reproductive freedoms.
Gottheimer joins a crowded Democratic field that already includes Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. Former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, Sean Spiller, president of the NJEA, the state’s teacher’s union and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Montclair Democrat just elected to a fourth term representing the 11th Congressional District, are all also expected to join the race.
On the Republican side, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who narrowly lost to incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021, is again seeking the Garden State’s highest office, alongside state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former state Sen. Ed Durr and radio personality Bill Spadea.
What has Gottheimer done in Congress?
Gottheimer represents the state’s 5th Congressional District, which includes 47 towns in Bergen County, four towns in Passaic County and 14 towns in Sussex County.
Since he was first elected in 2016, Gottheimer has prided himself on working in a bipartisan manner as a member of the the Problem Solvers Caucus, which he has co-chaired since 2017.
He’s been vocal about the congestion pricing plan New York announced, and then deferred, and then modified, that would raise toll costs for New Jersey commuters who head to work in Manhattan by car.
More:How well do New Jersey voters recognize their candidates for governor in 2025?
The congressman has been an advocate for re-implementing the State and Local Tax Deduction, or SALT, and women’s reproductive health. He believes that American commitments to aid Ukraine and support Israel should be kept.
The 49-year-old father of two previously served as a speechwriter for former President Bill Clinton and senior counsel to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He later worked as an executive at Microsoft.
What has Gottheimer said about New Jersey?
In a series of op-eds published this year by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network New Jersey, Gottheimer has outlined some perspectives on policies that could impact the Garden State’s future.
On jobs and New Jersey’s economy:
“We are hemorrhaging people and businesses, and the jobs and investments that come with them,” Gottheimer wrote in a piece published Jan. 11. “Over the last two years, more than 312,000 residents moved out of Jersey. One-third of the state’s publicly traded companies left over the last decade.”
Pointing to successful efforts in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts, Gottheimer proposed lowering individual and business tax rates, investing state dollars in job training, incentivizing businesses to leave New York to come to New Jersey and cutting regulations that he argues entangle and frustrate Garden State small businesses.
On federal dollars that flow to New Jersey:
In a May 9 op-ed, Gottheimer expressed concerns about the discrepancy between the federal taxes paid by New Jersey residents and the amount of federal funding that returns to the Garden State.
“For every federal tax dollar Mississippi and West Virginia send to Washington, they get back $3.08 and $3.00, respectively. Jersey, on the other hand, has gotten back about 75 cents, and even less in the district I represent,” Gottheimer wrote. “Nearly half of Louisiana’s annual state budget comes from the federal government in grants, programs and other aid. That’s more than twice what Jersey gets every year.”
Gottheimer proposed creating a state office for a so-called “chief clawback czar,” a state official who would coordinate efforts across all levels of government in New Jersey — state, county and local — to “go after every single federal grant our cities, towns and counties might qualify for.”
Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com