Josh Gottheimer

Josh Gottheimer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Scott Garrett
Personal details
Born	(1975-03-08) March 8, 1975 Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Marla Tusk ​ (m. 2006)​
Children	2
Residence(s)	Tenafly, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA) Pembroke College, Oxford Harvard University (JD)
Website	House website

Joshua S. Gottheimer (/ˈɡɒthaɪmər/ GOT-hy-mər; born March 8, 1975) is an American politician, attorney, writer, and public policy adviser who has served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 5th congressional district since 2017. The district stretches along the northern border of the state from New York City's densely populated metropolitan suburbs in Bergen County northwest through exurban and rural territory in northern Passaic and Sussex Counties.

A member of the Democratic Party, Gottheimer was a speechwriter for Bill Clinton and served as an adviser to the presidential campaigns of Wesley Clark, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. He has also worked for Burson Cohn & Wolfe, the Federal Communications Commission, Ford Motor Company, and Microsoft.

Early life and education

Gottheimer in 2012

Gottheimer was born in Livingston, New Jersey, on March 8, 1975. Gottheimer is the son of Jewish parents, a preschool teacher and a small business owner. Growing up, Gottheimer stocked shelves at his father's store. At the age of 16, Gottheimer served as a U.S. Senate page for Frank Lautenberg, a senator from New Jersey. Through high school and college, Gottheimer held internships with C-SPAN, the Secretary of the Senate, and Tom Foley, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gottheimer graduated from West Essex High School in 1993. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. He was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, master and president of the Interfraternity Council, a member of Sphinx Senior Society, and a University Scholar. While at Penn, he served on the "rapid response team" for Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. After Clinton's reelection, Gottheimer attended Pembroke College, Oxford, on a Thouron Award, studying toward a Ph.D. in modern history. In 2004, Gottheimer graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor.

Early career

Gottheimer joined the Clinton administration as a speechwriter in 1998, at age 23, working in the administration until its end in 2001. While attending law school, he worked as an adviser for Wesley Clark's 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. After the 2004 election, Gottheimer worked for the Ford Motor Company, then became an executive vice president at Burson–Marsteller. From 2010 to 2012, he worked for the Federal Communications Commission, where he led an initiative related to broadband internet. He subsequently became a strategist at Microsoft.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2016

See also: 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey § District 5

In the 2016 election, Gottheimer ran for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 5th congressional district, a seat that had been held by Republican Scott Garrett for seven terms since 2003. The 5th had historically been one of New Jersey's more Republican districts, but redistricting after the 2010 census made it slightly more Democratic by pushing it further into Bergen County. Gottheimer promoted himself as pro-business but socially progressive.

In December 2015, The New York Times ran an article discussing Gottheimer's Clinton ties (he was a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton and adviser for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign), describing him as a "protégé" of the Clintons and noting that Bill and Chelsea Clinton had appeared at a recent Manhattan fundraiser for Gottheimer, at which Chelsea introduced him as "something of a family member." The Gottheimer campaign's financial filings at the time showed that "about one dollar in six came directly from fellow alumni of the Clinton White House and campaigns...or from major donors and employees of consulting firms tied closely to the Clintons," including three former Clinton press secretaries and two former Clinton chiefs of staff.

The 2016 election saw corporate backing migrate from Garrett to Gottheimer, including support from throughout the finance sector — despite Garrett's influence as a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions. Garrett was criticized by industry insiders for having protested his party backing openly-gay Republican candidates, leading directly to Capital One, Goldman Sachs, PNC, State Farm, and Nomura ceasing payments to his political action committee; throughout the campaign, Gottheimer and national Democrats used this position, as well as Garrett's opposition to same-sex marriage and support for a bill allowing the denial of service to same-sex couples based on religious beliefs, to portray the congressman as a bigot who was too socially conservative for the district.

Gottheimer also received significant support from external super PACs, including the National Association of Realtors' PAC, which spent $1.3 million to promote him via television ads, and the House Majority PAC, which allocated $1.6 million to anti-Garrett ads. The PAC reiterated messaging that painted Garrett as "extreme" in his social conservativism, pointing also to his having opposed a ban on displaying Confederate flags in military cemeteries, hiring an airplane to fly over the Jersey Shore (during the July 4 holiday and Labor Day weekend) as it carried a banner reading "Scott Garrett - Move to Alabama," and releasing a statement that read: "More than a thousand miles and a hundred years separate Congressman Garrett's views from the values of New Jersey voters"; the House Majority PAC, overall, spent more money on anti-Garrett ads than they did in any other congressional district that year. By June 30, 2016, Gottheimer's official campaign had raised over $2.9 million, the second most of any 2016 House challenger from either party, whereas Garrett had $2.8 million in his campaign account. In the final fundraising quarter, through mid-October, Gottheimer raised an additional $1.1 million versus Garrett who brought in $540,000. Gottheimer ultimately acquired $4.3 million for his 2016 campaign, breaking the contemporaneous record for most funds raised in a New Jersey federal House race.

The race, overall, was characterized by media as "intensely personal," "marked by negative advertising," and "one of the region’s most bitter political races." Demonstratively, Garrett criticized Gottheimer "...for taking a donation from Ibrahim Al-Rashid, the son of a Saudi multimillionaire who pleaded guilty in 2014 to simple assault of his estranged wife"; Garrett also ran ads exaggerating a withdrawn civil claim against Gottheimer that alleged he intimidated and threatened a neighbor, in 2007, at his Washington, D.C. apartment building; and the end of the campaign season saw a flyer circulating that depicted Gottheimer with devil horns, which was interpreted as antisemitic, and that the Garrett team denounced but suggested may have been a "political ploy." Meanwhile, Gottheimer rebuked Garrett for voting against The Zadroga Act, which provided compensation and health coverage for first responders injured after 9/11: the Gottheimer campaign touted the support of retired North Arlington Police Chief Joseph Zadroga (whose son, James, was an NYPD officer who died after working at the World Trade Center site in the attack's aftermath), releasing a campaign ad in which Zadroga condemned Garrett as, "the only Jersey congressman to vote against health care for 9/11 responders," remarking: "For the life of me, I could not understand why Scott Garrett turned his back on [them]." The Gottheimer campaign also falsely accused Garrett of being investigated for legislating in favor of payday loans after receiving campaign contributions from the industry. The Associated Press would go on to summarize the policy distinctions of the race as Gottheimer "[pitching] himself as a fiscal conservative who is socially liberal, promising not to raise taxes while also pledging to fight for LGBT and abortion rights...[and claiming] Garrett forced local residents to pay higher taxes by not fighting for federal grants," whereas Garrett, "touted his record of battling to shrink government and uphold the Constitution, and warned that Gottheimer was another big-spending Democrat who would ultimately force higher taxes."

In November 2016, Gottheimer defeated Garrett winning election to Congress with a strong showing in Bergen County where he won by 14% while losing Sussex, Warren, and Passaic counties. In the months leading up to election season, most analysts projected the district would "lean" in Garrett's favor, but, by early October, experts began considering the race a closer "toss-up" with Gottheimer's win considered an upset. When he was sworn in on January 3, 2017, Gottheimer became the first Democrat to represent the 5th district since 1981, when it was numbered the 7th prior to being reorganized in 1983.

2018

See also: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey § District 5

Gottheimer faced John McCann, a former Cresskill councilman, in his first race for re-election in 2018. In Gottheimer's first three months in office (in 2017) he raised $752,000, setting a New Jersey record for funds raised by a freshman congressman in this timeframe; during the second quarter of the 2018 cycle Gottheimer raised $1,500,000. The race was characterized mostly by McCann painting Gottheimer as an establishment Democrat (especially one connected to Nancy Pelosi) while Gottheimer defended himself as bipartisan and moderate, citing his work with local elected officials, votes for Republican legislation such as Kate's Law, and a "common ground" oriented approach to Donald Trump and fixing the Affordable Care Act. NJ.com noted that anti-Trump sentiment during the midterm elections likely helped Gottheimer, as McCann echoed the president on taxes, health care, and immigration; Gottheimer, meanwhile, stated that the midterms were less about Trump than "people really wanting to put aside extremism and the nastiness." Notably, McCann advocated for building a wall along the US-Mexico border, comparing the contemporaneous situation to "an open borders society like the European Union" and emphasizing the importance of immigrants assimilating to American culture, whereas Gottheimer spoke to the need for "tough border security" legislation to include a solution for Dreamers. The race became particularly inflamed when a Gottheimer campaign sign displayed by a supporter on their property had a swastika and the phrase "vote MAGA" spray painted on it; McCann was criticized for connecting the vandalism to, "Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters [spreading] messages of hate" whereas Gottheimer was called out for fundraising off the incident and having subsequently denied doing so.

Gottheimer was reelected in 2018, defeating John McCann with 56% of the vote.

2020

See also: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey § District 5

In 2020, Gottheimer faced a primary challenge from a more progressive Democrat, Glen Rock councilwoman Arati Kreibich. According to Kreibich, she was ultimately pushed to challenge Gottheimer after he played a leading role in passing an emergency border funding bill that failed to provide certain aid and safeguards to detained migrants. Her platform also included environmental policy, as she touted her work to ban single-use plastic bags and transition Glen Rock to renewable energy as well as supported the Green New Deal, and she was in favor of Medicare For All. During the campaign Gottheimer remarked that, "...if Bernie Sanders, socialized medicine and extremism are more of your view, then my opponent is probably your candidate," whereas Kreibich characterized him as "Trump's favorite Democrat"; Representative Ayanna Presley of Massachusetts, Food and Water Action, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee endorsed Kreibich while Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Gottheimer; and Gottheimer promoted his bipartisan record, painting the fifth as a moderate swing district that could easily be flipped by a Republican opponent, while Kreibich argued that the constituency was "evolving", women were "waking up", and that Gottheimer failed to respond to these shifts. In July 2020, Gottheimer won the primary election with 70.1% of the vote.

Gottheimer was elected to his third term in the 2020 general election, defeating Republican nominee Frank Pallotta, a former Morgan Stanley director from Mahwah, with 53% of the vote. Though fifth district Republicans slightly outnumbered Democrats as of the 2016 election, Democrats in the district had since registered at twice the rate. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attacked Pallotta as "the subprime King of New Jersey", because, though Pallotta denied involvement, testimony implicated him in working with Morgan Stanley's subprime mortgage division. Pallotta described himself as a "fiscal conservative" while casting Gottheimer as a member of the "radical left" who voted with members of Congress such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez more than 80% of the time; like in 2016 and 2018 Gottheimer positioned himself, instead, as decidedly moderate. Gottheimer won the election with 53% of the vote, running ahead of Joe Biden who carried the district with 52% of the vote.

2022

See also: 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey § District 5

Redistricting made the 5th somewhat safer for Gottheimer. The district lost its share of heavily Republican Warren County and most of its share of equally Republican Sussex County; these areas had been Garrett's base for most of Garrett's seven-term tenure. To make up for the loss in population, the 5th was pushed further into Bergen County, as far as Fort Lee, meaning that 75% of the district's voters were from Bergen County. This shift resulted in the district gaining 20,000 registered Democrats and losing 20,000 registered Republicans: though "unaffiliated" was still the largest voting bloc, representing 212,000 district voters (37%), Democrats now had 208,000 registered voters in the district (36%) versus 151,000 Republicans (26%). The new 5th was six points more Democratic than its predecessor. Had it existed in 2020, Biden would have won it with 58% of the vote; he carried the old 5th with 52%.

Gottheimer was accused of, in May 2022, influencing the Republican primary that would decide, between Frank Pallotta (his 2020 opponent) and Nick De Gregorio (a former Marine), who his eventual general election opponent would be. Gottheimer's campaign mailed flyers to Republican voters that referenced Donald Trump having endorsed Pallotta in 2020 and called him "too much like Trump," though the former president had not endorsed Pallotta in the 2022 primary. Media concluded that Gottheimer was trying to boost Pallotta's appeal amongst Republican voters, writing: "The strategy seems to be one Democrats are trying out in congressional and gubernatorial races across the country, interfering in Republican primaries to raise the profiles of the further-right candidates in the hopes they would be more easily defeated in the general election." Pallotta eventually won the primary, defeating De Gregorio by 1,475 votes.

As of October 2022, Gottheimer had $14 million in campaign funds, including $1.1 million he raised in the third quarter of 2022 and accounting for $2.4 million he had already spent on his 2022 re-election. At this point, for the entirety of the 2021-2022 cycle, Gottheimer had raised $7.9 million; he had raised $26.4 million since first running for Congress in 2015. With these numbers, Gottheimer raised the third-highest total of any House candidate for the 2022 cycle; meanwhile, his opponent, Frank Pallotta, had $64,000 remaining in campaign funds, having already spent $350,000.

Gottheimer was elected to his fourth term in November 2022, defeating Frank Pallotta with 54.7% of the vote. The competition in the 5th district often reflected issues that had been energizing voters nationally, such as abortion, inflation, and crime. For example, in an October debate, "...Pallotta hammered Gottheimer over rising inflation and crime, denouncing 'catch and release,' or more officially, cashless bail," whereas, "Gottheimer, like mostly all Democrats [in the 2022] cycle, [stressed] his support for women’s reproductive rights. He said the overturning of Roe v. Wade already has meant grave consequences for women...[and] criticized Pallotta...for calling abortion 'manslaughter'". Gottheimer, furthermore, characterized Pallotta as a "far-right extremist" who would undermine the congressman's bipartisan, "commonsense" approach to legislating, whereas Pallotta argued that Gottheimer was aligned with New Jersey's, "new, extremely far-left sex education curriculum," which, he believed, allowed, "critical race theory [to] infiltrat[e] our schools and minds of our children," and that he "vehemently opposed." Gottheimer and Pallotta were opposed along party lines on a number of mainstream issues, including gun rights, support for the Inflation Reduction Act, police reform (especially the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which Pallotta criticized for limiting qualified immunity for law enforcement officers in civil suits), and voter identification laws.

2024

Gottheimer announced he would seek re-election to his fifth term in February 2024. At launch, the campaign had over $17 million in available funds, having raised $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 and $4.9 million in the first half of the 2023-2024 cycle. By March 31, 2024, Gottheimer's campaign had $18.6 million cash-on-hand ($6.2 million of which was raised in the 23-24 cycle), more than double the amount in House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries' campaign account and four times Speaker Mike Johnson's total. By July 2024, Gottheimer had $19.4 million in campaign funds, having raised nearly $1.8 million during the second quarter of 2024 — his most successful quarter on record. His 2024 Republican opponent, Mary Jo Guinchard, meanwhile, had raised $74,933 through May 15 and spent $57,000 on her primary win against George Song. By early October, Gottheimer's campaign filings showed that he raised nearly $1.3 million in the latest quarter (the seventh consecutive fundraising quarter during which he raised more than $1 million) and $9.3 million, thus far, for the 2023-2024 cycle; his campaign "warchest" totaled nearly $20.3 million whereas Guinchard had $50,482 cash-on-hand and a $110,038 debt. Since first becoming a candidate in 2015, Gottheimer had raised over $37.6 million in campaign funds.

In December 2023, Mary Jo Guinchard became the first Republican to launch a 2024 campaign against Gottheimer. Guinchard was a former mayor of Tuxedo Park, New York who then resided in Ridgewood and ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Bergen County commissioner in 2022 and 2023. At the Bergen County Republican party convention in March 2024, Guinchard (with 56% of votes) earned the group's endorsement to appear on the county line in the June primary, defeating Paramus school board member George song (who earned 43% of the vote) and Sandy Gajapathy who earned five votes. Song would continue his campaign, but Guinchard defeated him in the June 2024 primary with 70% of the vote, earning the Republican nomination to take on Gottheimer in the November general election.

In March 2024, the day after Guinchard won the Bergen County GOP line, Gottheimer began criticizing her as a "right-wing extremist" and "MAGA Mary," claiming that she was opposed to abortion, against red-flag laws, and associated with "anti-government extremist groups and January 6th sympathizers." Later in March, Guinchard countered that "I don’t care about the acronym...I want America to be great. We’re not looking so great right now." She went on to explain that she is pro-life but in favor of exemptions for rape, incest, and maternal health while disagreeing with Gottheimer over his attacks on crisis pregnancy centers, which Gottheimer claimed "brainwashed" women by never considering abortions whereas Guinchard supported these clinics and remarked that "having a baby is a choice too." Guinchard, furthermore, connected Gottheimer to "big money in politics" and expressed support for term limits while decrying border policy — citing human trafficking and how "Every state's a border state," when "We’ve got military age men coming in [and we] don’t know where they are."

On October 18, 2024, The Record endorsed Gottheimer over Guinchard.

On October 22, 2024, Gottheimer was endorsed for re-election by the National Troopers Coalition, an organization that represents 42,000 state troopers across the United States. Later that week, Mary Jo Guinchard, Gottheimer's 2024 Republican opponent, joined the Republican candidate from New Jersey's 9th Congressional District (Billy Prempeh) at a local town hall where she pushed back against Gottheimer's support amongst law enforcement, saying, according to Insider NJ, that Gottheimer, "does not support police," claiming the recent endorsement, "was union support" and contrary to what "she has heard from police in the street and on the job." At the same town hall, Guinchard also argued that New Jersey public schools were "trying to indoctrinate our children."

Gottheimer was elected to his fifth term on November 5, 2024, defeating Mary Jo Guinchard with 54.5% of the vote. He lost Sussex and Passaic counties but won by 18.7 percentage points in Bergen County. Media coverage of Gottheimer's re-election mentioned that he was likely to enter the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election, with The Record reporting that Bergen County Democratic Chairman Paul Juliano had introduced Gottheimer to his county election-night party by saying that it was, "[My] sincere guess that [Gottheimer] doesn’t stop here with this reelection," and, "I can’t tell you what [it] is, but I can tell you for certain when he takes that step, as a county Democratic leader I will stand behind him."

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress:

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets
  • Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion
  • Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions
• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
  • United States House Permanent Select Subcommittee on Intelligence on National Security Agency and Cyber, Ranking Member
  • United States House Permanent Select Subcommittee on Intelligence on National Intelligence Enterprise

Caucus memberships

• New Democrat Coalition
• Climate Solutions Caucus
• Problem Solvers Caucus
• Congressional Coalition on Adoption
• Congressional Blockchain Caucus
• Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment
• Rare Disease Caucus

2025 gubernatorial campaign

Main article: 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election

On November 15, 2024, Gottheimer announced that he would run for governor of New Jersey in 2025, seeking to succeed outgoing Democratic governor Phil Murphy.

Political positions

Gottheimer is considered a centrist Democrat.

Domestic policy

Climate change

In September 2022, Gottheimer touted that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 (which he helped develop and push through Congress) and Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (which he voted for) were "seismic progress" in fighting climate change. Gottheimer argued that the infrastructure bill funded environmental projects such coastal resiliency, ecosystem repairs, and electric-vehicle infrastructure while the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the congressman, provided "serious long-term investments in alternative energy" and incentives for states, communities, and individuals to "rethink how they approach energy."

Drugs

In 2019, Gottheimer stated his opposition to the legalization of recreational marijuana. The statement came after he voted for a bill that would end the federal penalization of banks that serve the cannabis industry.

On December 4, 2020, Gottheimer voted for the MORE Act, which, "...removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances...and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana". The bill passed in the House but did not advance in the Senate. After the bill was reintroduced, Gottheimer voted for it again on April 1, 2022; this time the bill included an amendment that he proposed, which allocated $10 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to perform a study on how to test drivers for marijuana impairment.

Food

On May 22, 2023, Gottheimer wrote to the Department of Agriculture, suggesting it revise expiration-date guidelines dictating when consumers, sellers, and restaurants should dispose of their products — with the goal of reducing food waste and minimizing expenditures on food that goes unconsumed. Gottheimer simultaneously supported the Food Date Labeling Act to, "...establish an easy-to-understand, uniform food date labeling system," which would also, "...allow food to be sold or donated after a 'best if used by' date," in order to support food pantries and the needy.

In July 2024, Gottheimer joined New Jersey state senators Brian Stack and Nicholas Scutari to promote the federal Stop SCAMS Act, a bill he introduced with the aim to protect food assistance beneficiaries from theft by scammers. The senators, noting that such scams had affected 6,200 New Jerseyans over the past two years, announced corresponding state-level legislation — both bills mandating the modernization of benefit EBT cards by replacing magnetic strips (which are especially vulnerable to skimming) with more secure microchip technology.

Gun control

In December 2017, Gottheimer voted against the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would have made concealed-carry permits valid across state lines but, after passing in the House, stalled in the Senate.

Gottheimer is joined by family of Parkland shooting victims to announce school safety bill

In July 2019, Gottheimer and Rep. Elise Stefanik introduced the ALYSSA act, named after Alyssa Alhadeff (a Woodcliff Lake native) who died during the 2018 Parkland school shooting; the bill would have required all schools to install silent panic alarms to alert law enforcement of an incident as well as provided funds for school resource officer training and placement. In 2021, Gottheimer reaffirmed his commitment to passing the ALYSSA act, acknowledging that "Congress does not always move quickly" while pointing to New Jersey already having already passed the same law at the state level. In July 2023, Gottheimer led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in reintroducing the legislation, this time separating the funding for school resource officers into its own bill — the SOS Act.

In June 2022, Gottheimer voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which strengthened background checks and incentivized states to enact red flag laws and more harshly penalize firearm straw purchases. Gottheimer said that the bill was "a huge win for families" and that, after years of "not being able to get something done" lawmakers "should be very proud" of the legislation. When reflecting on the legislation, Gottheimer added that he wants to close the gun show loophole.

In July 2022, Gottheimer voted to ban assault-style firearms, helping pass a renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the House that eventually stalled in the Senate. In the days before the vote, Gottheimer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Joyce Beatty (chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus) engineered a deal to combine the firearm ban with Gottheimer's legislation to fund police departments, which moderate Democrats wanted to vote on before recess in order to "rebut GOP attacks over defunding the police." On the morning of the vote, however, other members of the CBC and the Progressive Caucus met with Democratic leadership to separate the two bills in hopes of, in the future, negotiating for stronger police accountability stipulations. Gottheimer led last-minute efforts throughout the day to push for an immediate vote on the police funding package, but, ultimately, the gun control legislation was brought to the floor and passed individually.

Gottheimer supported reapproving (for the fourth time since 1988) the Undetectable Firearms Act, which targeted ghost and 3D-printed guns by requiring that all guns include enough metal to set off X-ray machines and metal detectors, and, in June 2024, he proposed legislation to make the act permanent. Gottheimer argued the legislation was especially important in light of the 2026 World Cup final being hosted at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, noting possible security threats.

In July 2024, a federal court overturned New Jersey's AR-15 ban, ruling that the law was "inconsistent" with a 2022 Supreme Court decision stipulating that states could only prohibit certain firearms if there was "historical precedent" to do so. In response, Gottheimer held a press conference, urging House Republicans (who controlled the chamber by a slim margin) to support several "common sense" gun laws. He argued there was "no reason" not to pass: the 2023 Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would have mandated background checks for most gun purchases (including private ones) in order to close existing loopholes; the 2023 Enhanced Background Checks Act, aimed at eliminating the "Charleston Loophole" that permitted firearms sales to proceed after three days, even if the background check was not yet completed; and the 2023 Assault Weapons Ban, which would have reinstated the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, criminalizing the sale of certain semi-automatic weapons, like the AR-15, as well as gun magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds.

Health care

In 2017, Gottheimer explained that he supported some aspects of the Affordable Care Act (allowing adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26 and requiring coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions) but that, "...we need to fix the Affordable Care Act. There's plenty wrong with it, whether it's the medical device tax or the Cadillac tax."

Gottheimer felt that the Trump Administration's American Health Care Act of 2017 did not reflect an effort "to reach across the aisle", and he was mainly concerned that the proposal could raise healthcare costs for senior citizens.

As of 2019, Gottheimer opposed single-payer healthcare, often referred to as "Medicare For All" in American politics.

In 2022, Gottheimer voted for the Right to Contraception Act which, "...guarantee[d] the right to get and use birth control, including emergency contraception."

In February 2024, following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that decided frozen embryos had rights as children, Gottheimer said, "What Alabama is doing, what many states are doing, what many people in Congress unfortunately are doing, they are conducting a war on women's healthcare and a war on women overall." At the same time, Gottheimer introduced the Securing Access to Fertility Everywhere (SAFE) Act, which would, "...protect families, doctors and medical facilities from prosecution involving any IVF treatment [such as wrongful death charges for transporting embryonic cells]," and publicly supported Sen. Tammy Duckworth's Right to Build Families Act, which would secure access to IVF treatments.

In June 2024, Gottheimer (a member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus) was joined by Rep. Lauren Underwood at Hackensack University Medical Center in support of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, a 13-bill package aimed at improving social and institutional barriers to maternal health.

Abortion

In September 2021, along with all but one Democrat from the 117th Congress, Gottheimer voted to federally codify abortion rights protections.

In June 2022, Gottheimer condemned the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, saying "We must always oppose any attempt...[to] stand between a woman, her doctor, and her faith, when making personal health care decisions. This dangerous ruling ends fifty years of precedent and will have grave widespread consequences".

In 2022, Gottheimer voted for the Women's Health Protection Act which sought to, "...create a statutory right for health care professionals to provide abortion care and allow patients to receive that care without medically unnecessary restrictions," as well as the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act which would have, "...prohibit[ed] retaliation against anyone who provides an abortion to an out-of-state resident or assists in that effort."

Gottheimer touts bill to protect abortion pill access at Planned Parenthood in Hackensack, 2024

In April 2023, Gottheimer introduced the Freedom to Decide Act, which sought to protect access to cross-state prescriptions for abortion pills against legal challenges.

In October 2023, Gottheimer announced a campaign against crisis pregnancy centers (which explicitly do not refer visitors to a doctor for an abortion) that were operating in New Jersey. Gottheimer listed the "dangers" of these organizations, including how they, "...pose as a healthcare clinic...but are not staffed by licensed medical professionals...[aim] to brainwash women with their own ideological agenda...lie about the risks associated with abortion, use aggressive tactics...deceive women into thinking they’re too far along to legally get [an abortion]...promote dangerous medical misinformation...[and overall] don’t provide legitimate prenatal care or refer women to health clinics that would". In opposition to these clinics, the congressman, "...help[ed] lead the Stop Anti-abortion Disinformation Act in the House...[which] directs the Federal Trade Commission to prohibit mis- and dis-information related to abortion services and authorizes the FTC to penalize organizations that break this rule...[as well as] sent a letter to the Governor and leaders in the State Legislature asking them to...[restrict] crisis pregnancy centers’ deceptive marketing practices". In January 2024, Gottheimer spoke out against the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, which barred the executive branch from restricting federal funds for crisis pregnancy centers; the bill later passed in the House by a six-vote margin, with Gottheimer voting against it. In May 2024, Gottheimer held a press conference outside a crisis pregnancy center, Options for Her, in Cherry Hill to reiterate his opposition to what he called their "anti-choice" agenda, claiming: "...in reality, they just care about one thing: preventing women from actually making their own personal decision." Options for Her's CEO defended the organization and criticized Gottheimer for never having visited one of their facilities, while an attorney representing Options for Her characterized his remarks as false, defamatory, and "seriously ill-informed."

Immigration

In March 2019, Gottheimer co-sponsored the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, joining, one week after the bill was introduced, more than 200 other congresspeople in doing so. According to The Record, the bill would have granted, "...permanent legal protection to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants," including Dreamers and those with TPS and DED protections. Speaking retrospectively in 2023, Gottheimer criticized the House Speaker's ability to unilaterally block a vote on any bill (arguing it "paralyzed" bipartisan progress), in part because, "That’s what killed the immigration bill in 2019...[which] would have provided a path to citizenship for Dreamers," as, ultimately, "We had 300 co-sponsors but...Paul Ryan would not bring it to the floor".

In June 2019, Gottheimer supported a $4.6 billion emergency border aid package, arguing that the bill's $1 billion for migrant shelter and food and $3 billion for childcare made supporting it, "'...a simple choice for me'...'Get humanitarian aid immediately to children at the border or let the perfect be the enemy of the good and do nothing'". Democratic leadership, however, only reluctantly endorsed the legislation shortly before it was set to be voted on, because they hoped to secure certain restrictions that would result in better quality care for migrants. The bill especially angered progressives, in part because it set aside $280 million for ICE and $1 billion for Customs and Border Protection, resulting in 95 Democratic representatives voting against it.

In October 2023, Gottheimer backed a bill by Sen. Lindsey Graham that packaged together funds for increased domestic border security with funds for military assistance to Ukraine in its defense against Russia, stating, "...we need to make sure that we deal with...the challenges at the border and border security and live up to our values there". Lawmakers, however, were not able to pass Graham's package (or any other border funding bill) before Congress ended its session in December 2023.

In February 2024, Gottheimer, though he initially withheld support in preference of Lindsey Graham's senate-passed bill, co-sponsored Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick's Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which would have addressed the southern border by reinstating President Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy and by blocking the use of federal funds to transfer migrants "unless it is for adjudicating their immigration case."

Infrastructure

Gottheimer speaks at a Maryland infrastructure press conference, April 2021

Gottheimer supports New Jersey infrastructure projects, including the Lackawanna Cut-Off and the Gateway Tunnel.

In August 2021, Gottheimer led a group of centrist Democrats who sought to ensure infrastructure investment by separating $1 trillion in physical infrastructure funding from a $3.5 trillion "social policy package" that was critical to the Biden Administration's Build Back Better agenda. Progressive Democrats preferred that the two be voted on together so that the bundle was more appealing to conservative democrats who supported the physical infrastructure investments but might not vote for the social spending on its own. Ultimately the two packages were voted on separately, with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passing and the Build Back Better act failing.

In January 2024, Gottheimer campaigned against electric car manufacturers excluding AM radio from newly produced vehicles. At a media event near a Tesla dealership on Route 17 Gottheimer was joined by the New Jersey Broadcasters Association director to argue that AM radio is still widely used and necessary in emergency situations; he warned that, if unregulated, car manufacturers may eventually charge fees for all infotainment options.

In March 2024, Gottheimer helped secure $1.8 million in federal grants to improve local pedestrian safety (including funds for safer crosswalks, wider sidewalks, and pedestrian signals and bridges) in Ridgewood, Closter, Midland Park, Hackensack and Englewood. Gottheimer stressed the importance of the projects by citing a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study that highlighted how 30% of people killed in road accidents in New Jersey were pedestrians — nearly double the national average of 17%. While touting the grants' procurement, Gottheimer also announced that he was introducing the PHASE Act, which, "...directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to come up with new solutions to address distracted driving and will implement pedestrian-friendly infrastructure for cities and towns with a new grant program," the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act, which "...works toward giving state and local governments funds for bike and walking paths," and the Complete Streets Act, which, "...focuses on more accessible transportation options for children, seniors and people with disabilities...direct[ing] states to find new approaches to pedestrian travel."

In April 2024, Gottheimer introduced the Enhancing Transparency from Airlines Act, which would codify new Department of Transportation rules that require airlines, "...to provide direct refunds rather than vouchers following a 'significant diversion' in flights...includ[ing] a three-hour delay for domestic flights and a six-hour delay for international trips," while also, "...protect[ing] customers from surprise fees when purchasing a ticket [by] requiring airlines to communicate all fees upfront."

Congestion pricing

Gottheimer staunchly opposed congestion pricing in Manhattan, New York City, one of the most polluted and congested areas of the world.

In August 2021, Gottheimer and Rep. Jeff Van Drew introduced legislation that would bar the Department of Transportation from awarding certain grants to New York's MTA unless New Jersey drivers were exempted from congestion pricing, as Gottheimer argued that, in its current form, "Every nickel will go to New York to their mass transit," while, "Not a cent will go back to PATH or New Jersey Transit to actually help our state in any way". In September 2022, Gottheimer produced an analysis that suggested 75% of opinions given at the MTA's virtual hearings for the plan's public comment period were against congestion pricing in Manhattan. In January 2023, Gottheimer and Rep. Mike Lawler introduced a bill that would stop the Department of Transportation from granting new capital investment funds to New York City's MTA projects unless drivers from New Jersey and the outer-borough crossings into Manhattan were exempted from congestion pricing. In July 2023, Gottheimer accused the head of the MTA and a primary congestion-pricing proponent, Janno Lieber, of causing children to get cancer, as traffic around the George Washington Bridge (the entrance to which is in Fort Lee, a town in his 5th district) could increase under a congestion pricing plan due to it being located north of the impacted zone. After the congestion pricing plan's specifics were revealed, in December 2023, Gottheimer again joined Mike Lawler to denounce the plan as a "money grab" that he believed would hurt commuters and downtown small businesses; he also threatened to launch lawsuits against the plan.

In January 2024, Gottheimer produced a study estimating that the congestion pricing plan (as approved by the MTA) would generate $3.4 billion in revenue per year, exceeding New York City's $1 billion target; the study also projected that the plan would still raise about $1.5 billion yearly even if every eligible crossing from New Jersey into Manhattan was excluded. Gottheimer, furthermore, warned that the Port Authority could lose around $83 million in tolls collected per year from a decrease in Lincoln and Holland tunnel crossings. Gottheimer ultimately argued these findings demonstrated that New Jersey crossings ought to be exempted from (what he called) the "congestion tax". John J. McCarthy, the MTA chief of policy and external relations, responded by calling the congressman "Gridlock Gottheimer" and alleging that he, "...still thinks more cars, more congestion and more pollution is the answer to the region’s clogged streets, and here he is again with yet another publicity stunt fighting for the status quo".

Gottheimer visits the MTA office in Manhattan to request a meeting with CEO Janno Lieber

In April 2024, as the plan was set to begin on June 15, the MTA announced that New Jersey (especially Bergen and Hudson counties) would receive a cut of the funds generated from congestion pricing. Gottheimer rebuked the new measure as "throwing some crumbs to New Jersey" and argued the funding was insufficient when his constituents "suddenly have a $4000-a-year new tax bill." The following week, Gottheimer visited the MTA headquarters to demand, unsuccessfully, that the agency provide financial documents that justified the congestion pricing fee; joined Rep. Nicole Malliotakis to introduce bipartisan legislation that would block the congestion pricing plan from taking effect; and wrote to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, requesting that they arrange a hearing on the MTA's plan and subpoena Janno Lieber to appear. In May 2024, Gottheimer and Rep. Anthony D’Esposito introduced legislation that, unless the congestion pricing plan was terminated, would bar Lieber from using federal funds to pay for work-related travel by car, which was to be exempt from congestion tolls; Gottheimer described the MTA funding car travel, in light of its support for congestion pricing, as a "for thee and not for me" attitude, saying of Lieber: "[He] seems to think he’s above it all."

In early June 2024, as the plan was set to take effect on June 30, New York's governor Kathy Hochul indefinitely paused Manhattan congestion pricing — which Gottheimer celebrated as "common sense prevail[ing]," "a huge win," and "sav[ing] people a lot of money."

Labor

Seeking to stave off a strike during the 2022 railroad labor dispute, Gottheimer, along with 79 House Republicans and all but 8 House Democrats, voted for a measure that forced rail companies and their unions to agree to a, "...deal [including] a 24-percent increase in wages over five years, more schedule flexibility and one additional paid day off," though which, "Several rail unions had rejected...because it lacked paid sick leave,".

In December 2023, Gottheimer pushed for bipartisan legislation to fund the FAA so they could hire and train more air traffic controllers, citing a 3,000-staffer national shortage and only 54% of essential tristate-area positions being filled. To this end, Gottheimer signed a bipartisan letter "demanding" that any bill to fund the FAA must stipulate (and include money for) the hiring of air traffic personnel to capacity, then he introduced it to leaders of the House Transportation and Senate Commerce committees. He also sponsored legislation that would begin a Government Accountability Office investigation into flight delays at airports in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

Law enforcement

Gottheimer cosponsored the Public Safety Officer Pandemic Response Act of 2020, voted for the Thin Blue Line Act, and supported the Never Forget the Heroes Act.

Gottheimer visits Newton, NJ police department, 2022

In January 2022, Gottheimer introduced the Invest to Protect Act, which aimed to provide $200 million in funds over 5 years to smaller police departments. The spending would be targeted at provisions such as officer safety and de-escalation training, body cameras, recruitment and retention, and mental health resources. Gottheimer led efforts to more quickly bring the bill to a vote (such as trying to package it with a July assault weapons ban); CNN linked Gottheimer's push to crime and policing being an election issue and, therefore, vulnerable Democrats hoping to pass police-funding legislation before the 2022 midterms. The Invest to Protect Act passed the House in September 2022 but failed to advance further than a unanimous consent passage in the Senate. In May 2023 Gottheimer reintroduced the bill in the 118th Congress.

In June 2024, Gottheimer announced an amendment to the package funding the Department of Homeland Security through 2025 that would set aside $620 million for additional security at the 2026 World Cup games — eight matches of which, including the final, would be held at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford. The funds would pay for increased fire, medical, and law enforcement personnel locally and at affected transit facilities, as Gottheimer explained: "We want to make sure local governments don’t have to take on those costs themselves."

Fiscal issues

Congressional stock trading

Gottheimer has been criticized for inappropriately handling stock trades during his time as a congressman, though his team has stated that, "Prior to taking office, Josh turned over management of his portfolio to a third party and only receives statements of prior transactions". For example, in August 2022, filings revealed that Gottheimer failed to report an exchange of stocks in his portfolio within the mandated 45-day period; in September 2022, analysis indicated that Gottheimer made, "...trades involving 326 companies and 43 potential conflicts of interest," over a three-year period; and in April 2023, it was shown that Gottheimer sold shares in impacted companies before and during the 2023 banking crisis.

In February 2022, Gottheimer pledged to establish a blind trust to manage his assets; however, as of reporting in August 2022, he had yet to create one, and, as of June 2024, the electronic statement that was cited to substantiate this pledge had been removed from Gottheimer's House website.

Cryptocurrency

Gottheimer speaks on the House floor in support of FIT21 cryptocurrency framework

In February 2022, Gottheimer drafted legislation to define digital currencies as stablecoins if they could be backed one-for-one by U.S. dollars. Later, in July 2023, Gottheimer voted in the House Financial Services committee to advance a Republican-led bill that would establish regulations for stablecoins by authorizing the SEC to oversee digital assets while also installing new restrictions on the agency. Gottheimer and five other Democratic committee members approved the bill, bucking Democratic chairwoman Maxine Waters who argued it had loopholes and was "a wish list of Big Crypto."

After helping push the Republican-led Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act through the House Financial Services Committee, Gottheimer, in May 2024, signed onto a memo urging other Democrats to vote for the bill, which eventually passed in the House with bipartisan support later that month. The bill simplified digital currency regulation and was purported to enhance investor protections while encouraging cryptocurrency companies to establish themselves in the United States rather than abroad; in a press release, Gottheimer described the bill as establishing rules to guide entrepreneurs and protect consumers. Later the same week, Gottheimer led a bipartisan group of congresspeople in writing to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler pushing for the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, which they argued provided investors with a transparent and regulated entryway into cryptocurrency trading.

Government shutdowns

In January 2018, Gottheimer was one of six House Democrats who voted with Republicans for a short-term spending bill in an attempt to stave off a federal government shutdown.

In February 2022, with the previous year's continuing resolution set to expire on the 18th, Gottheimer was the only Democrat to vote against a successful stopgap bill that extended funding through March 11. Gottheimer argued, "Stop-gap measures for short-term government funding weaken our military and harm...the ability for our states to plan critical infrastructure projects, and much more," so, since there were "more than 200 hours" before the deadline, Congress should have negotiated towards an omnibus deal "until the last possible minute".

In September 2023 (facing the possibility of a shutdown on the 30th), Gottheimer, along with the rest of his Problem Solvers Caucus, endorsed a continuing resolution plan to fund the government until January 2024, which included aid to Ukraine, disaster-relief funds, and enhanced border security. Gottheimer also suggested using a discharge petition if other funding methods failed. He later co-headlined a No Labels-organized virtual "exclusive congressional update" to discuss this “commonsense bipartisan framework” aimed at preventing a government shutdown despite “partisan actors on both sides of the aisle”. A spokesperson wrote that, during the event, Gottheimer emphasized how, "With divided government, a bipartisan proposal was the only way to stop the far-right from holding Congress hostage, get a bill out of the Senate and signed into law by the President".

In January 2024, facing a shutdown, Gottheimer urged Speaker Mike Johnson to, "support a six-week government funding extension to allow time for a longer-term budget deal to be reached," as he warned, especially, that veterans would be hurt if the government had to shut down. Gottheimer blamed the looming shutdown on "ultra-right extremists", and, on January 18, voted for a successful stopgap bill to fund the government through a deadline in March.

Taxes

On April 15, 2017, Gottheimer announced that he would be introducing the "Anti-Moocher Bill", under which states receiving more federal dollars than they contribute to the national treasury would pay their "fair share", asking: "Why should Alabama get our federal tax dollars and get a free ride, while we're left holding the bag with higher property taxes? It just doesn't make sense." In October 2017, Gottheimer and Rep. Leonard Lance introduced the Return on Investment Accountability Act, which they wrote would, "...give tax credits to individuals whose states get less funding from the federal government than they pay in aggregate".

In September 2022, Gottheimer touted the Inflation Reduction Act.

In August 2023, Gottheimer proposed a plan that would provide families with tax credits to be used towards the administrative and equipment costs of youth sports, helping parents to use, "...pretax dollars, and [boosting] the maximum contribution of these dollars per household" as well as creating, "...a federal grant program to invest in recreational youth sports programs and organizations".

SALT deduction

Gottheimer is a proponent of restoring the full State And Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which was limited to $10,000 by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, arguing that, "...there would be no better way to lower taxes for Jersey families than to restore the State and Local Tax Deduction".

In January 2018, Gottheimer was the first New Jersey lawmaker to propose that towns establish charitable funds (to be used towards municipal expenditures as property taxes would) that residents could donate to and, thereafter, receive an equal credit on their property tax bills — allowing homeowners to deduct their full property tax expenses as charitable contributions on federal tax forms. The workaround was signed into law by governor Phil Murphy after passing in the state legislature in April 2018, but it was ultimately blocked by an IRS ruling.

Gottheimer has made numerous attempts to uncap the SALT deduction, such as last-minute efforts to negotiate its reduction in 2017; attempts to include the deduction's restoration in Build Back Better legislation circa February 2022; writing to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to push for a state-level workaround in June 2022; and, beginning in February 2023, leading a bipartisan caucus devoted to the issue.

In February 2024, Gottheimer publicly promoted a bill that would have doubled the SALT deduction cap to $20,000, but, later that week, he abstained from a procedural vote (which failed) that would have brought the bill to the floor; a 'yes' vote would also have allowed consideration of a Republican resolution denouncing the Biden administration's energy policies.

Foreign affairs

China

In June 2021, Gottheimer co-sponsored a resolution led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, which, "...condemn[ed] the Chinese Communist Party for 100 years of gross violations of human rights, including repression, torture, mass imprisonment, and genocide," citing instances such as the annexation of Tibet and the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and concluded that the group, "...looks forward to the day that the CCP no longer exists."

In September 2021, Gottheimer and Rep. Claudia Teney led a bipartisan group of congresspeople in writing a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that cautioned how, "The Chinese-Iranian alliance presents a unique challenge and dangerous partnership antithetical to American national security interests," insofar as China disregarded sanctions on Iran by importing Iranian oil and, according to the group, "bolstered" Iran's ballistic missile program while "complicating" efforts to keep at bay its nuclear program.

Gottheimer has criticized TikTok and supported banning the platform should it remain under Chinese ownership. In March 2023, Gottheimer held a local rally where he argued TikTok posed a national security threat, saying: "TikTok has more than 100 million monthly active users. [It] collects far-reaching and sophisticated data from its users...this data is an enormous asset to the Chinese Communist Party, a known adversary, and their aligned activities." Later in the month, after Rep. Jamaal Bowman became "the first prominent lawmaker" to publicly oppose a potential TikTok ban, Gottheimer remarked that, "Anyone defending TikTok is either too caught up in being a social media celebrity or they’ve been brainwashed by the Chinese government’s propaganda...Both put our national security at risk." In November 2023, shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Gottheimer and Rep. Don Bacon, joined by ADL leader Jonathan Greenblatt, announced the Stop Hate Act, which aimed to require social media companies to address individuals using their platforms for terroristic purposes; Gottheimer said that, "...this is a massive disinformation campaign spreading through our country, spreading through young people...China is pro-Hamas, so it only makes sense for them to push anti-Israel, anti-American content on TikTok." At the same time, Gottheimer called on the Department of Justice to register TikTok as a foreign agent. Later in November 2023, Gottheimer criticized a trend of TikTok videos "sympathizing" with Osama bin Laden and his reasoning behind orchestrating the 9/11 attacks, arguing it demonstrated, "...how China-owned TikTok is pushing pro-terrorist propaganda to influence Americans," and, therefore, "TikTok must be banned or sold to an American company." In February 2024, Gottheimer joined Rep. Dan Crenshaw in sending a letter to Secretary Gina Raimondo requesting that the Department of Commerce add ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to its export control list in hopes of addressing "critical vulnerabilities" created by Chinese-government access to its software. In March 2024, Gottheimer was an original sponsor of (and voted for) a bill that would ban TikTok in the United States unless it was sold to a company that does not operate in a foreign adversary country, touting that, "Today’s vote demonstrated our nation’s dedication to fighting back against the Chinese Communist Party."

Throughout late 2023 and 2024, Gottheimer supported Republican-led, Democrat-led, and bipartisan bills calling for aid to Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific allies in defense against China and its influence, especially in the South China Sea. This aid, however, was always tied to aid for Israel in its war against Hamas and/or Ukraine for its defense against Russia; at one point, Gottheimer supported a bill funding only Israel at the expense of waiting for the opportunity to support all three causes together.

Iran

Gottheimer did not support the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (saying he would have voted against it had he been in Congress at the time) and approved of President Trump exiting the agreement in 2018; one of Gottheimer's primary concerns with the deal was that, "...it didn’t address the elephant in the room, which is [Iran's] support for terror."

In January 2020, in the wake of the Trump administration having ordered a drone strike to assassinate Qasem Soleimani, Gottheimer said that the Iranian general had "imminent plans to attack Americans" making it necessary to "act deliberately to contain the threat posed by Iran"; Gottheimer later reiterated that "I know what I believe: We killed a terrorist," and "we were responding to years of action by Iran." At the same time, Gottheimer expressed his support for President Trump intensifying economic sanctions against Iran. Later in the month, Gottheimer was one of eight House Democrats to vote against a war powers resolution that, in reaction to the assassination, emphasized the president's responsibility to consult Congress before engaging in military hostilities.

Throughout 2022, Gottheimer opposed the Biden administration as it attempted to reenter a nuclear agreement with Iran: in March, when the measure was brought up in diplomatic talks, Gottheimer said it would "make zero sense" to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, arguing it would further enable Iran to fund terrorism through its proxies; in April, Gottheimer led a group of 18 House Democrats in, "...saying they do not oppose diplomacy with Iran outright, [but] expressed concerns about potentially delisting the IRGC and protested Russia’s involvement as a mediator in the negotiations"; and, in August, Gottheimer led a group of lawmakers in denouncing a proposal that would reflect the Obama-era agreement, arguing, "...Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror...can’t be trusted," and that, under such a framework, Iran would be, "Strengthened with an estimated one trillion dollars in sanctions relief over a decade," posing an, "...enormous danger to Americans at home and abroad, and to our allies."

In October 2023, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Gottheimer led a group of lawmakers in demanding that Iran, “...be held fully accountable for its continued role in funding Hamas and Islamic terror,” and urging, "...the administration to take all necessary steps to cut off Iranian funding sources."

Israel

Rep. Josh Gottheimer alongside House Dem. Leader Hakeem Jeffries on a congressional delegation to Israel

Gottheimer has said that, "Our relationship with Israel is a vital relationship" and "Israel [is] our most vital ally in the Middle East".

In February 2017, Gottheimer stated that the United States embassy in Israel should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but that the move, "...should be left up to conversations between [Israeli and Palestinian] governments."

In March 2023, Gottheimer reaffirmed his pledge to, "...support Israel’s security, grow the Abraham Accords, support a two-state solution and counter threats to Israel and the U.S."; at the same time Gottheimer urged members of Congress to refrain from voicing their concerns over proposed judicial reforms in Israel.

In April 2023, Gottheimer made two official trips to Israel within one week — once as a part of a 12-member delegation of House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and once as one of five Democrats to join Speaker Kevin McCarthy on a bipartisan visit. During the same month, Gottheimer co-sponsored legislation, "...that reaffirmed the House’s support for military aid to Israel" and he stated, "'I’ve worked personally against and successfully killed attempts to condition aid [to Israel]...I’ll continue to work to kill conditions on aid [to the sole] democracy in the region and a critical ally".

In May 2023, Gottheimer introduced legislation expanding anti-boycott laws to include blocking boycotts organized by international governmental organizations, with the intended effect of stopping the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in the United States.

Israel-Hamas War (2023–present)

Gottheimer and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz lead a vigil on the steps of the U.S. Capitol following the October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel

Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following October 7, 2024, Gottheimer strongly condemned Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush's anti-Israel position, stating, “It sickens me that while Israelis clean the blood of their family members shot in their homes...[Bush and Tlaib] believe Congress should strip U.S. funding...and allow innocent civilians to suffer". On November 7, 2023, Gottheimer voted in favor of the resolution passed by the House to censure Tlaib "...promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack," as well as criticized, in particular, her use of the slogan "from the river to the sea".

On October 10, 2023, Gottheimer was a sponsor of the bipartisan "Operation Swords of Iron" Iron Dome Appropriations Act, which Gottheimer he described as "critical to increasing American security assistance for Israel’s missile defense system...[so that] the U.S.-Israel relationship will remain, as it has for decades, ironclad".

On October 16, 2023, Gottheimer (along with Reps. Don Bacon, Jared Moskowitz, and Claudia Tenney) led a group of 63 Democrats and 50 Republicans in drafting a letter to President Biden, in which they, "...ask[ed] him to boost Israel’s security, hold Iran accountable for its role in funding Hamas...and put pressure on nations who support Hamas, including Qatar and Türkiye...[as well as] thanked the President for his unwavering support for the State of Israel [and] reaffirmed their commitment to increasing American security assistance".

On October 25, 2023, Gottheimer voted to support Israel and condemn Hamas following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. After the vote, Gottheimer criticized 15 colleagues including Rep. Andre Carson who voted in the minority, describing them as "despicable" and unrepresentative of the party. Carson responded calling Gottheimer "a coward" and "punk". CNN described the Gottheimer-Carson scuttle as a microcosm of the broader divisions within the Democratic party over Israel. Following the exchange, Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League accused Carson of "intimidating" Gottheimer, writing that, "...[It is] especially egregious that [Carson] is threatening a Jewish member for speaking out at a moment when we're seeing a massive spike in antisemitism".

On November 2, 2023, Gottheimer was one of 12 House Democrats to vote for a $14.3 billion aid package to Israel that was funded by cutting the IRS' budget. Though Gottheimer disapproved of reducing funds for countering tax fraud (saying he, "...do[es] not support the Speaker’s approach to [the] legislation"), he viewed passing the aid as paramount, arguing, "...we must ensure that Israel has the resources to defeat Hamas and other terrorists...[therefore] the symbol to the world of voting no would have done more damage". On the same night, the House passed the Hamas International Financing Prevention Act (which Gottheimer helped introduce) that, "...would require the president to [report] on foreign entities that...assist Hamas or PIJ and...[to sanction] those entities, including [by] suspending U.S. assistance, seizing property...and denying exports".

On November 18, 2023, Gottheimer denounced Sen. Bernie Sanders' proposal that the U.S. condition military assistance to Israel on "a fundamental change in [Israel's] military and political positions," saying that, "Conditioning aid to Israel will...help Hamas in their goal of completely annihilating Israel and the Jewish people," therefore, "Any legislation that conditions security aid to our key democratic ally, Israel, is a nonstarter and will lose scores of votes."

On November 22, 2023, Gottheimer released a statement regarding the conflict's first Israel-Hamas hostage deal, writing, "...despite premature and hostile calls for a ceasefire without concessions from Hamas, President Biden has...demonstrate[d]...the necessary leadership to negotiate a deal," resulting in, "...women and children held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza [being] released, paving the way for a temporary pause and more humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians being used as human shields"; Gottheimer added that, "While the deal represents important progress, the unfortunate reality is that this war is not over. Hamas...still hold[s] more than a hundred and fifty hostages...[and] Hamas terrorists have made it clear that they will not back down," concluding that the United States must, "...stand by Israel to...crush the terrorists, and provide much-needed humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinian civilians...[as] Israel must eliminate every single terrorist responsible for this war".

Gottheimer meets with PM Netanyahu on a House Intelligence Comm. trip to Israel, Dec. 2023

On December 21, 2023, Gottheimer returned to the United States after leading an official House Intelligence Committee trip to Israel during which he and other congresspeople met with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the director of Mossad, and other Israeli officials regarding the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. According to a statement by Gottheimer and his remarks at a virtual press conference, these meetings included (among others topics) discussions over Qatar's role as a negotiator, the strength of the US-Israel relationship, Houthi attacks on commercial vessels (which Gottheimer linked to Iranian backing, evidencing his position that "Israel's problem is the world's problem"), Hamas' use of sexual violence, the importance of avoiding civilian casualties, planning for "the day after" and Gaza's future, and a de-radicalization campaign in Palestine.

In January 2024, following Israel's claim that UNRWA officials contributed to Hamas' October 7 attack, the U.S. State Department suspended future 2024 payments to the agency. After the incident, Gottheimer argued that UNRWA is "flawed to the core" due to "systemic issues," saying the U.S. was justified in pulling funding because "it’s time for UNRWA to disappear." Gottheimer went on to, in April 2024, rally congresspeople to include a ban on supporting UNWRA's Gaza efforts in legislation funding the State Department through 2025; the letter Gottheimer circulated amongst colleagues also proposed ending U.S. support for any international organization, "...whose conduct 'constitutes antisemitism' under a controversial definition crafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association." In May 2024, Gottheimer and Rep. Brian Mast introduced legislation aimed to recover the $121 million sent to UNWRA just prior to US funding being suspended.

On March 26, 2024, Gottheimer joined Sen. John Fetterman to denounce the Biden Administration's decision to, by abstaining, allow a U.N. Security Council resolution that, "demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages," to pass: Gottheimer said he was "shocked" and felt not vetoing would, "only embolden Hamas and delay the safe return of hostages." Gottheimer later expounded that he believed the resolution was indicative of how, "The international community has long unfairly scrutinized and ostracized Israel at the U.N.," before reaffirming that, "Israel has the right to defend herself from existential threats...[so] We must continue to stand with our key ally, Israel, and work to bring all of the hostages home, crush the terrorists, and provide humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians being used as human shields by Hamas terrorists."

On April 5, 2024, Gottheimer returned from a trip to the Middle East where he met with Egyptian and Qatari officials who were negotiating the Israel-Hamas War. He reported being "hopeful that a temporary pause is within reach," urging Prime Minister Netanyahu to "empower" his negotiators to allow increased humanitarian aid to enter Gaza while also decrying "news coming out saying that Hamas had rejected the latest round of offerings and exchanges" as they demanded what were, according to the Biden administration, certain "nonstarters" such as, "...full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent cease-fire, the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and...the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails."

On April 14, 2024, following Iran having launched airstrikes against Israel, Gottheimer and Rep. Joe Wilson led a bipartisan group of 89 House members in writing to Speaker Mike Johnson, urging him to immediately bring the Senate-passed Supplemental Aid package (which included military funds for Israel) to the floor for a vote. The group argued, "This weekend, the Iranian regime [having] launched hundreds of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles directly against our key, democratic ally in the Middle East, Israel," means that, "Time is of the essence, and we must ensure critical aid is delivered to Israel and our other democratic allies facing threats from our adversaries around the world."

On May 10, 2024, Gottheimer led a group of 26 House Democrats in writing to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to criticize the Biden administration having "paused transfers of ammunition and 500-pound and 2000-pound bombs" in opposition to Israel invading Rafah, writing that they were, "...deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies," as, "We have a duty to continue to equip Israel with the resources she needs to defend herself and crush the terrorists who also seek to do America harm." Later, on May 16, Gottheimer was one of 16 House Democrats to join Republicans in passing the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which would compel the Biden administration to reverse the pause by partially defunding the State Department, Defense Department, and Executive Office of the President — unless the cancelled weapons shipments were resumed. Gottheimer said of the bill that, "...now is the moment to show strength and stand resolutely by our key democratic ally in the fight against terror."

On May 30, 2024, Gottheimer led a group of 19 House Democrats in writing to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in support of sanctioning ICC officials, specifically mentioning Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, following the Biden administration declining to impose sanctions against the organization after it issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and against three Hamas leaders for terrorism. The letter argued for sanctions due to signatories' belief that, "The charges against Israeli leaders are baseless [and] reflect the ICC’s well-documented historical bias against Israel."

In June 2024, Gottheimer spoke out against the Maldives having announced plans to ban Israeli passport holders from entering the country — the nation's response to Israel's role in the ongoing Gaza conflict. Gottheimer called the ban "a blatant act of Jew hatred" and said "They shouldn't get a cent of American dollars until they reverse course," prompting him to develop legislation called the Protecting Allied Travel Here (PATH) Act that would condition U.S. aid to the Maldives on allowing Israeli passport holders into the country.

In a June 2024 interview with the New Jersey Globe, Gottheimer framed the war as "Hamas [being] a terrorist proxy of Iran...one of our enemies," who are "working very closely with the governments of China, Russia, North Korea," and, altogether, constitute, a "new Axis of Evil," versus Israel, which "has been a great partner because...she [is] a democracy and stands up for democratic values...whether it’s women or LGBTQ communities," and, "has been a key in fighting terror in the region. A very important ally to the United States." Gottheimer, therefore, asserted that "I look at this purely for what’s good for America’s national security," and, as it relates to the Israel-Hamas war, "the Biden administration, on net, has done a phenomenal job and provided the resources that are critical to help fight terrorists in the region and our enemies."

On July 3, 2024, Gottheimer met with Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and Tzachi Hanegbi, the director of Israel's national security council, at the Israeli prime minister's office in Jerusalem. After the meeting, Netanyahu thanked Gottheimer "for his consistent support of Israel, as well as for the American support for Israel since the start of the war."

Syria

Gottheimer said that he thought President Donald Trump acted appropriately in striking Syria in response to the 2018 use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government. "There's room the president has to deal with a crisis, and I believed, if you looked at the heinous crimes and atrocities committed, poisoning your own children, that demanded a response, and I'm glad he responded."

Ukraine

Gottheimer and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Gottheimer's Republican counterpart as co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus) introduced House legislation to support Senator Joe Manchin's initiative to close American ports to Russian oil, natural gas, and coal products.

In October 2023, Gottheimer backed Sen. Lindsey Graham's bill to simultaneously fund Ukraine military assistance (which had, after debate, previously been excluded from the September 2023 continuing resolution to fund the US government) and increased domestic border security. When speaking on the bill, Gottheimer claimed it was necessary to, "...support Ukraine to make sure we stand up to Putin and to China and Iran, which is critical to our national security and to our allies". Following weeks of negotiations, lawmakers were not able to pass Graham's package (or any other Ukraine/border funding bill) before Congress ended its session in December 2023.

In February 2024, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick introduced the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which had three Republican and three Democratic co-sponsors from the Problem Solvers Caucus. The bill included $47.7 billion in aid to Ukraine, $10.4 billion for Israel, and $4.9 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific in an effort to combat China. Gottheimer, at first, did not support Fitzpatrick's bill (citing a lack of humanitarian aid), but later co-sponsored it, saying, “I joined the bill after introducing a humanitarian aid package, which I believe would have to be a key part of any package".

Politics

In June 2021, Gottheimer joined Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Terri Sewell to launch the Team Blue PAC, which, in light of House Democrats having only had a four seat majority ahead of the 2022 midterms, aimed to defend incumbent Democrats against primary challenges. In February 2022, Team Blue's first slate of endorsements bolstered moderate incumbents against more progressive challengers. Leftwing groups like Justice Democrats claimed the PAC's intentions were to quash progressivism in "deep-blue" districts (versus allocating resources to protect swing-seat Democrats), whereas Jeffries argued the group sought to defend incumbents’ records from "being distorted" by "the hard-left," and Gottheimer added: "We want to support common-sense members who are delivering for their districts."

In September 2023, Gottheimer defended New Jersey's county line system, under which candidates supported by county-level party organizations had their names advantageously placed on primary ballots in that county. Gottheimer said: "It’s a democratic approach that I’ve long supported," as, "It gives rank and file Democrats at the local level a strong voice in selecting their best candidates." In June 2024, after a judge ordered that the Democratic party was not to use county line ballots for New Jersey's 2024 primaries (and as the system faced further judication), Gottheimer maintained that "[It] takes a lot of work to get across the finish line [and] Those organizations have always played a critical role in both recruiting great candidates and getting the message out," but conceded: "I'm going to respect where it comes out in the courts...what’s most important is making sure Democrats win."

In June 2024, Gottheimer was the first Democratic congressperson to endorse incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman's opponent, George Latimer, in the hotly-contested Democratic primary that was defined, in large part, by Bowman's criticism of Israel following the 2023 Israel-Hamas War outbreak.

2024 presidential election

On July 9, 2024, after Joe Biden's widely-criticized debate performance in late June, Rep. Mikie Sherrill became the first member of New Jersey's congressional delegation to call for the incumbent president to step down from his role as the 2024 Democratic nominee, whereas Gottheimer, at the time, said "it’s up to [Biden] what he wants to do." On July 21, Biden announced his departure from the race, prompting Gottheimer to release a statement in which he thanked Biden for "decades of unwavering service, patriotism, and dedication," and said "it's time to move forward, united in our shared goals." The next day, Gottheimer followed a wave of Democrats nationally as well as Gov. Phil Murphy and five other New Jersey congresspeople in supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden had endorsed when he dropped out, to be the Democratic nominee. Gottheimer wrote: "What New Jersey likes more than anything is a fighter...That’s why I’m with Kamala," emphasizing how "Everything is on the line, and it’s time for us to unite against Donald Trump."

Bipartisanship

Gottheimer was ranked the eighth most bipartisan member of the House for 2017 by the Bipartisan Index, a metric published by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy. For 2020, 2021, and 2022, Gottheimer was ranked the most bipartisan Democrat in the House — placing second overall behind Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for 2022.

Gottheimer is the Democratic co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Gottheimer has pointed to his work with the Problem Solvers Caucus as proof that he is not "ideologically rigid." He has also said that members of Congress "are more bipartisan than people think." In October 2023, reports noted fractures emerging amongst the Problem Solvers: Republican caucus leadership made a bipartisan appeal urging members to vote to retain Kevin McCarthy as Speaker (arguing he was a relatively moderate option and advanced a continuing resolution while the group was, at the time, attempting to stave off a shutdown), but every Democrat ultimately voted to remove him; Gottheimer called the incident "an emotional day" for the Problem Solvers Caucus. Furthermore, in March 2024, Politico reported that some members of the caucus questioned Gottheimer's bipartisan credentials, writing, "...one data point is particularly irksome to Republicans in the group: Fitzpatrick [the Republican co-chair], a purple-district lawmaker, has bucked his party far more often this Congress than Gottheimer, who now represents a safe seat."

Since being elected Gottheimer has worked with the No Labels organization, with founder Nancy Jacobson saying, "I created the Problem Solvers Caucus...and we put Congressman Gottheimer in there"; though the caucus was announced in 2014, it was launched in 2017 with Gottheimer, upon just having taken office, becoming its first (and thus far only) Democratic co-chair. In September 2023, Gottheimer co-headlined a No-Labels-organized event despite having, recently before, denounced the group's intentions of putting up a third-party presidential candidate in 2024. According to The Intercept, "Wealthy executives and investors have funneled hundreds of thousands through No Labels’s Problem Solvers PAC to members of the caucus," including Gottheimer.

In February 2024, "hardline" House Republicans floated removing Speaker Mike Johnson after he agreed to a spending deal with Senate Democrats; Gottheimer, meanwhile, aimed to give Johnson "room to put bipartisan legislation on the floor" by authoring a resolution that, "...would require party leadership or a majority of either party's caucus to sanction any vote to vacate the speaker's chair," (as opposed to the contemporaneous rule that any single member could force a vote on removal) and which was contingent on Johnson holding a vote on a defense spending package including aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Bob Menendez

Gottheimer, after the senator endorsed him in the 2020 Democratic primary, proclaimed that, "New Jersey is incredibly fortunate to have Bob Menendez in the Senate...He’s a real champion for our families and I’m honored and grateful to have his support.”

In September 2023 (the day after the senator was charged with taking bribes and providing sensitive information to the Egyptian government), Gottheimer called on Menendez to resign, writing, "Senator Menendez has been a critical voice and a tough fighter for Jersey, with a strong record that includes gun safety, protecting our environment and a woman’s right to choose, and fighting racism and antisemitism...[but] For the good of the state, he should step aside as he focuses on his defense”.

Following Menendez's 2023 indictment, CBS News reported that "...more Republicans, and even Democrats, [may] smell blood in the water and jump in the race," to which Ashley Koning, the director of the Rutgers Eagleton Poll, added that, "...top contenders are already serving seats within New Jersey...Whether it's somebody like Mikie Sherrill, or Josh Gottheimer, or Andy Kim". According to Insider NJ, Gottheimer, "...was asked if he would 'rule out' running for the Senate," to which he responded that, at the time, "...his only focus is on avoiding a shutdown". NJ.com, meanwhile, reported that, according to a source close to Gottheimer, "Josh is 100% in for governor and done with Washington...He’s not looking to be in the running for Senate".

In November 2023, Gottheimer endorsed Tammy Murphy in the 2024 Democratic primary for Menendez's Senate seat, becoming the first New Jersey congressperson to publicly support a candidate in the race. When Murphy dropped out of the race in March 2024, Gottheimer switched to endorse Rep. Andy Kim.

Donald Trump

In 2017, Gottheimer called for an independent commission to probe alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russia.

On the possibility of impeaching Trump over the Ukraine scandal, in September 2019 Gottheimer said, "We need to make sure this is fact-driven and evidence-based. You can't prejudge something that is so solemn and obviously could have a big historical impact on our country, and you need to keep the country together."

Gottheimer voted to impeach Trump during both his first impeachment and his second impeachment.

Gottheimer was one of eight Democrats to vote against a resolution that would curtail Trump's war powers following the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

When asked during a 2020 primary election forum in what ways he supported Trump, Gottheimer answered that, "He’s good on the relationship with U.S.-Israel. Although I don’t agree with everything that...Netanyahu does or says, I think it’s a very important relationship to the United States".

Social issues

Antisemitism

Gottheimer has confronted fellow Democratic representatives over their comments and stances that he has considered antisemitic: In March 2019, Gottheimer was involved in drafting a House resolution to condemn the "myth of dual loyalty" after Ilhan Omar had accused certain supporters of Israel of having "allegiance to a foreign country"; in February 2023, Gottheimer "convinced" Omar to sign a resolution (which he authored) that condemned antisemitism before she was removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee due to her past comments pertaining to Israel; and in July 2023, Gottheimer co-wrote a statement denouncing as "unacceptable" Pramila Jayapal having remarked that Israel is a "racist state"'

In January 2020, Gottheimer spoke out against a "massive wave of anti-Semitism on college campuses" as well as touted his efforts to fund the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and secure related grants for New Jersey religious institutions. In May 2024, Gottheimer announced he had helped secure $4.8 million in federal grants to "invest in physical protections, training and security technology" for 34 "synagogues, mosques, churches, religious schools and community centers" across his district.

In September 2023, Gottheimer called on the University of Pennsylvania to disinvite Roger Waters and Marc Lamont Hill as speakers at the school's Palestine Writes Literature Festival and for Princeton University to reconsider its use of Jasbir Puar's text The Right to Maim in classes. Due to accusations of antisemitism and Waters' criticisms of Israel, Gottheimer claimed the musician would be given, "...a bully pulpit...to divide others," and that, "...antisemitism and anti-Israel advocates [would be] given a platform to spew hate," if he were to speak at the festival. In the same letter, Gottheimer suggested Puar's book (being used in a class called "The Healing Humanities: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South") was, "...offensive, antisemitic blood libel...aimed at undermining Israel and Jews...[and] containing antisemitic tropes and anti-Israel sentiment...contradict[ing] the university's mission of inclusivity, which includes protecting Jewish students". Both universities responded by denying Gottheimer's requests and citing academic freedom: Princeton's president stated, "...students inevitably encounter controversial and sometimes disturbing ideas...all students can thrive here, but not by censoring our curriculum," while Penn's president said, "...we...fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission...includ[ing] the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values".

On December 4, 2023, Gottheimer wrote to the president of Rutgers University, asking that the school cancel a scheduled seminar (titled "Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill" and which was officially described as a discussion about, "the ongoing assault on Gaza...how anti-Blackness and settler colonialism shape the current discourse on Palestine, and...solidarity between Black, Indigenous, and Palestinian struggles") due to the congressman's belief that Estes and Lamont Hill were "well-known antisemites" and that, "allowing these speakers to present their antisemitic, anti-Israel views will promote hate speech and exacerbate the potential for violence and attacks toward Rutgers’ Jewish students". Rutgers declined to cancel the event, as a spokeswoman wrote that the university, "value[s] academic freedom’s protections that allow...faculty and invited guest lecturers to state their views and engage in lively discourse". Media connected Gottheimer's back-and-forth with Rutgers to the broader controversy surrounding pro-Palestinian stances and interlinked accusations of antisemitism occurring at American universities in the wake of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel as well as to, on December 5, the president of Harvard, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, and the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology being questioned by Congress over their responses to such antisemitic incidents. Later, on December 11, Gottheimer called for the aforementioned university presidents to resign over the statements they made before Congress, saying, "...in the testimony, when directly asked...if calling for genocide of Jews violated their school's code of conduct...[the presidents] couldn't deliver a simple yes or no answer to that question and said it's context-dependent...[so] I think failure of leadership is the least way I can describe...these presidents and their...decisions over the last months".

Also in December 2023, Gottheimer was one of 95 Democrats to vote for a resolution, which passed in the House, that "strongly condemns" antisemitism and "clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism."

In January 2024, Gottheimer condemned the Teaneck school district for partnering with a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (who it enlisted alongside the Anti-Defamation League and Facing History & Ourselves) as part of its "Togetherness and Belonging" program meant, according to the superintendent, to, "...improve the dialogue within our scholastic community and bolster respect for and appreciation of our diverse population," featuring organizations, "...like CAIR-NJ [that will] provide education sessions on a variety of local and global issues". Gottheimer composed a letter stating that, "It is outrageous and unacceptable to welcome CAIR-NJ into Teaneck’s schools...after its national executive director openly expressed glorification about the vile terrorist attacks and sexual violence perpetrated against innocent Americans, Israelis, and others,” and that, by including the organization, the district would, "promote antisemitism and hatred as part of the Teaneck’s curriculum". A spokesperson for CAIR-NJ responded that, "...CAIR and its chapters — including New Jersey — have a strong track record of condemning antisemitism. We have consistently made clear that our critique is of Israel as a nation state and not of Jews". In February 2024, Teaneck High School students organized a march and protest (beginning at the school) where they "...call[ed] on their elected representatives to support a ceasefire in Gaza," which Gottheimer condemned as, "...an antisemitic, anti-Israel protest during school hours."

In February 2024, a sticker with the design of the Palestinian flag and that read "Boycott Israeli Apartheid" was found affixed to a poster featuring a since-freed hostage from Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which was displayed outside Gottheimer's Capitol Hill office. Gottheimer described the incident as, "...nothing less than a blatant act of antisemitism and hate," and said, "I refuse to be silent in the face of this horrific behavior, which only serves to perpetuate and amplify the skyrocketing levels of antisemitism across our nation." In March 2024, Gottheimer reported a second such instance wherein a Palestinian flag sticker reading "Free Palestine" was affixed to a hostage poster outside his office; he again called the incident "a blatant act of antisemitism and hate" as well as "truly deprived and heinous."

US Reps. tour Columbia University in light of anti-Israel encampments

In April 2024, Gottheimer and fellow Jewish lawmakers Reps. Dan Goldman, Jared Moskowitz, and Kathy Manning visited Columbia University and held a press conference at the school's Center for Jewish Life. The visit came on the sixth day of heightened pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia, following, the week before, Columbia's president and other administrators having testified before congress regarding increased antisemitism on campus. At the press conference, the lawmakers condemned the demonstrations as antisemitic and dangerous, with Gottheimer reaffirming that "Jewish students are welcome here" and stating, "We will do everything in our power to keep you safe and do everything in Washington we can to make sure that you feel welcome at this university or any university across the United States of America," before warning that, "Columbia University, if they don’t follow through, will pay the price." The following day, when asked if he would be comfortable with his children attending Columbia University, Gottheimer responded: "After what I saw yesterday...I would be very concerned...And I understand why parents would be very concerned," concluding that the protests created an "unacceptable" environment "that does not feel safe for all students." Later that month, Gottheimer and Rep. Dan Goldman led a group of 21 House Democrats in writing to Columbia's board of trustees, expressing disappointment that, "...Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus," calling for leadership to disband the encampment, and warning: "If any Trustees are unwilling to do this, they should resign"; the group also argued that the encampments affected student safety, constituting, "...an apparent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act." In May 2024, following similar encampments at Rutgers University having disbanded upon the administration conceding to eight of the protester's ten demands, Gottheimer and Rep. Donald Norcross sent a letter to university president, claiming they "...failed to adequately take into account the...voices of members of the Jewish community at Rutgers," having, "...appeased the demands of violent and hateful agitators," and rewarded, "...purveyors of harassment, hatred, and intimidation."

In May 2024, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which Gottheimer co-authored, passed 320-91 in the House. The bill, in response to pro-Palestine protests at American universities, would stipulate that the Education Department use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism when applying federal anti-discrimination laws, such as during Title VI proceedings: the bill would lower the threshold for student civil rights complaints alleging antisemitism and threaten with civil rights enforcement universities that do not protect students according to the new standards. Speaking on the House floor before the vote, Gottheimer linked the bill to protests at Columbia University and claimed, "This bill is a critical step we can take to stand against hate." The next day, responding to criticisms that the bill would infringe upon free speech rights, Gottheimer said: "You should, of course, protect free speech in this great country...[but] harassing and intimidating and discrimination...[and] Hate shouldn't be allowed on our college campuses."

LGBTQ rights

Gottheimer supports same-sex marriage, saying, during his first campaign in 2016, "I think that people should be able to love and marry whomever they want, and I don’t think it’s the government’s role to dictate that," and, "I understand the religious objections to it, but the world is changing, and it is now the law of the land. It’s like any other civil right, in any sphere." In 2022, Gottheimer voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which guaranteed the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.

Gottheimer speaks at a Pride flag raising in Glen Rock, NJ, 2018

Throughout his tenure, Gottheimer has attended and spoken at pride events in his district. To celebrate pride month in June 2023, Gottheimer hosted a roundtable with advocates and local leaders where they discussed hate crimes, public safety threats, homelessness, mental health issues, and bullying affecting the LGBTQ community.

In 2017, Gottheimer introduced the Freedom from Discrimination in Credit Act, which prohibited credit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; the legislation was eventually passed in 2021 as part of the Equality Act (which Gottheimer supported) that amended the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

For the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections, Gottheimer was endorsed by Garden State Equality Action Fund, which touted that, “Each election cycle, we endorse candidates based on their support for our mission of lifting up the diverse voices of LGBTQ+ communities to advance the movement for equality in New Jersey." Likewise, Gottheimer was endorsed for the 2024 cycle, in April, by Human Rights Campaign.

In June 2024, Gottheimer and Rep. Angie Craig announced the Elder Pride Protection Act, which would require the attorney general to create a Department of Justice task force to study higher rates of elder abuse in the LGBTQ community and design national, local, and state-level approaches to the issue.

Electoral history

2016 Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joshua S. Gottheimer	43,250	100.0
Total votes			43,250	100.0

New Jersey's 5th congressional district, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer	172,587	51.1
	Republican	Scott Garrett (incumbent)	157,690	46.7
	Libertarian	Claudio Belusic	7,424	2.2
Total votes			337,701	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

2018 Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	27,486	100
Total votes			27,486	100

New Jersey's 5th congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	169,546	56.2
	Republican	John J. McCann	128,255	42.5
	Libertarian	James Tosone	2,115	0.7
	Independent	Wendy Goetz	1,907	0.6
Total votes			301,823	100.0
	Democratic hold

2020 Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	52,406	66.5
	Democratic	Arati Kreibich	26,418	33.5

New Jersey's 5th congressional district, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	225,175	53.2
	Republican	Frank Pallotta	193,333	45.6
	Independent	Louis Vellucci	5,128	1.2

2022 Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	31,142	100.0
Total votes			31,142	100.0

New Jersey's 5th congressional district election, 2022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Gottheimer (incumbent)	145,559	54.7
	Republican	Frank Pallotta	117,873	44.3
	Libertarian	Jeremy Marcus	1,193	0.5
	Independent	Trevor Ferrigno	700	0.3
	Independent	Louis Vellucci	618	0.2
Total votes			265,943	100.0
	Democratic hold

Books

Gottheimer is the editor of Ripples of Hope (2003), a collection of American civil-rights speeches. The text of one of the speeches included in the book, which was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma on January 25, 1965, was previously unpublished. Gottheimer acquired the text from an Alabama police consultant who had transcribed it from FBI surveillance tapes.

Despite not working on any of the Obama campaigns, Gottheimer also co-authored Power of Words (2011) with Mary Frances Berry, a book about Barack Obama's speeches. Power of Words sold poorly, with less than 1,000 copies purchased across all formats, and was upsetting to former Obama campaign staffers, given Gottheimer's position and actions in the 2008 Clinton campaign.

Personal life

Gottheimer is a native of North Caldwell, and he currently resides in Tenafly. He is Jewish and a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He married Marla Tusk in 2006. Together, they have two children.

Bibliography

• Gottheimer, Josh, ed. (2003). Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches. New York: Basic Civitas Books. p. 463. ISBN 0-465-02752-0.
• Berry, Mary Frances (2011). Gottheimer, Josh (ed.). Power in Words: The Stories behind Barack Obama's Speeches, from the State House to the White House. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-807-00169-1.

See also

• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress

External links

• Congressman Josh Gottheimer official U.S. House website
• U.S. Congress campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN