U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a former Bill Clinton speechwriter heading into his ninth year as a Democratic congressman, formally launched a bid for New Jersey governor on Friday, escalating an already crowded race expected to soon get even bigger.
The Bergen County lawmaker and prolific fundraiser has long been expected to enter next year’s heated battle to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Gottheimer is the fifth major Democrat — and ninth major candidate overall — to join the primary for the open seat.
He unveiled his campaign in front of hundreds of supporters, state lawmakers, and local officials at a very packed Runway Diner in South Hackensack, pitching himself as a centrist Democrat aiming to “make New Jersey more affordable again.”
“I’m a Jersey guy through and through,” the 49-year-old Gottheimer said in his speech. “I love Jersey. It’s in my bones. But the thing is: Life in Jersey has become too damn expensive. We pay too much in taxes and too much to live.”
“It’s time for a reboot.”
He promised to reduce New Jersey’s high cost of listing and slash its notoriously high taxes.
“Let me say that again, because I don’t think you’ve heard that from a Democrat in a really long time: I’m gonna cut your property and income taxes,” said Gottheimer, who has served in Congress since 2017, after flipping a North Jersey seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that Republicans held for decades.
“It’s all too much and needs to go down.”
The kitchen-table — or, more appropriately, diner-table — message came 10 days after Gottheimer was elected to a fifth term serving the state’s 5th congressional district. It also came on the heels of a presidential race that exit polls showed hinged on the economy, as Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Republican former President Donald Trump. Harris carried blue New Jersey by about 6 percentage points, while Gottheimer won his district by 11 points.
“If last week’s election taught Democrats anything, it’s that people think politicians aren’t listening to them,” Gottheimer said at his launch, held in a blue-collar part of his district.
“As the saying goes and as laid bare in last week’s election, it’s the economy, stupid. And hard-working middle-class families like you deserve some relief.”
Gottheimer said he would do all of this “while protecting the values we believe in as Democrats,” including reproductive rights.
“Our diversity remains our greatest strength and we believe in helping people out when they need it and fighting Donald Trump when we need to,” he said.
Gottheimer joins an overflowing field of candidates vying for their parties’ nominations in June’s primary election. The Democratic side also includes Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, and former state Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Another Democratic House member from North Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, is expected to join the race Monday.
On the Republican side, there are four major declared contenders: state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, and former state Sen. Ed Durr, and radio host Bill Spadea.
The race is set to become the focus of Jersey politics now that the presidential election is over. The winner of November’s general election assumes one of the most powerful governorships in America, getting to approve not only new laws and the state budget but a wide array of appointments, including a state attorney general and judges. New Jersey is a blue state, but voters often go back and forth between parties when selecting a governor.
As the other candidates gradually declared campaigns over several months, it was expected Gottheimer and Sherrill would follow suit. They have waited until just after they were re-elected to their House seats last week.
As well-funded, politically active members of Congress with support from top party leaders, both Gottheimer and Sherrill are considered prime contenders and bring a new dimension to the race.
A North Caldwell native and Wyckoff resident, Gottheimer was a White House speechwriter during President Bill Clinton’s second term and worked as an adviser to presidential campaigns for Democrats Wesley Clark, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. He was also once an executive at Microsoft and an advisor to former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.
He was elected to Congress in 2016, when he ousted seven-term Republican Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th District, ending 84 years of GOP rule there, the same year Trump first won the presidency. Gottheimer has since won his district — includes Bergen County suburbs and parts of Passaic and Sussex counties — by at least 7 points in each of his re-election bids.
Gottheimer co-chairs the House’s Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that seeks to broker deals on major legislation in Congress.
On Friday, he boasted of laws he helped pass on gun control, climate change, and transportation. He also promised to revamp the state’s tax code to make it easier for people to move to New Jersey; reduce energy bills by having more solar and wind energy; double down on property tax relief programs such as Stay NJ, a tax cut for seniors; boost law enforcement; and continue his ongoing fights against New York’s congestion pricing plan and to restore the SALT deduction.
But Gottheimer’s moderate stances — and occasional votes breaking with his party — have sometimes drawn the ire of progressive Democrats. That could be a big challenge as he tries to win support for the party’s gubernatorial nod, especially after a fierce U.S. Senate election this year that mobilized progressives against the party establishment.
Sitting on tables in the diner Friday were faux menus with the congressman’s photo and food items — Gottheimer’s “Got-Your-Back” Bagel, Property Tax Toast. Many supporters also wore baseball caps that read: “Josh 4 Jersey.”
“Everything good in Jersey starts in a diner,” Gottheimer said at the start of his speech. ”And after last week, we need some good news.”
Gottheimer gave no specifics on how he would pay for tax cuts, including whether he would reduce services, but he said he’d have more policy details in the coming months.
He did vow to appoint a “clawback czar” to return more federal dollars to New Jersey. In Washington, Gottheimer has long complained that New Jersey is one of a handful of states that receive less from the federal government than what their residents pay in federal taxes.
Gottheimer, an outspoken ally of Israel, would also be the first Jewish New Jersey governor if elected — as would Fulop, the Jersey City mayor. On Friday, Gottheimer said he would battle antisemitism with the “full force” of the law.
A few things could help Gottheimer in the race, said Matt Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University and a Democratic council member in Highland Park.
“No. 1, he’s got a lot of money, and no, 2 he’s a centrist,” Hale said. “Those are good things in New Jersey. He’s the type of Democrat New Jersey tends to gravitate towards.”
Tina Zappile, director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University, said Gottheimer’s strong election history also helps, considering how close Murphy’s 2021 re-election victory was.
“Gottheimer’s record has thus far been strong,” Zappile said.
No candidate, though, has major name recognition, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this week. For Gottheimer, 56% of registered voters don’t know who he is, while 15% have a favorable view of him, 8% unfavorable, and 21% have no opinion.
Insiders expect Sherrill to get the backing of party chairmen in the big counties of Essex, Middlesex, and Passaic, while Gottheimer has the support of key officials in Hudson and his home county of Bergen, the state’s most populous county.
But it’s unclear how much that may help this time. The primary likely won’t feature the state’s “county line” ballot design, in which candidates endorsed by powerful county party leaders have long received choice placement and helped party bosses sway elections. A judge struck the system down for this year’s Democratic primaries as part of a lawsuit filed during the Senate race, and it appears on the verge of going away completely. That makes the governor’s contest even more open.
Still, Hale, the Seton Hall professor, said “just because the lines aren’t there doesn’t mean the party apparatus is irrelevant.”
“Getting those endorsements is less important, but they are still important,” he said.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.
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