New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer launched his campaign for governor on Friday, vowing to lower taxes and bring more jobs to the state. “As governor, I will lower taxes and lower costs and help you and your family get ahead. Now, I’ll do it while protecting the values we believe in as Democrats,” Gottheimer said Friday at a campaign launch event at a diner in South Hackensack, N.J. Life in the Garden State has become too expensive and driven out families and businesses, he said, vowing to reverse that trend. “My pride in Jersey is shared by millions,” Gottheimer said. “But here's the thing, life in Jersey has become too damn expensive. We pay too much in taxes and too much just to live. It's driving out job-creating businesses and families and undermining our quality of life.” Gottheimer, who was elected to a fifth term representing New Jersey’s 5th District last week, is seeking to succeed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term limited. Since joining the House in 2017, Gottheimer has led the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and has been in the middle of major legislative negotiations on Capitol Hill, including pandemic relief, budget issues and transportation infrastructure. When Democrats were in the majority, he was regularly a thorn in the side of the party’s progressive wing. Gottheimer focused much of his roughly 20-minute speech Friday on taxes, an issue that’s been one of his primary policy priorities on Capitol Hill. He has prioritized repealing the $10,000 limit on deducting state and local taxes which was enacted as part of the 2017 Republican tax law and touted his work to expand the child tax credit. He said he wanted to overhaul the state’s tax code to make it more affordable to move to the state or buy a first home there. He also criticized New York’s proposed congestion pricing plan, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul resurrected this week, saying that they “beat New York’s outrageous congestion tax once and I’m ready to lead the fight and beat it again.” A prodigious fundraiser, Gottheimer had $20 million in his congressional campaign account as of Oct. 16, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Gottheimer isn’t likely to be the only New Jersey Democrat on Capitol Hill to seek the nomination. Fellow Rep. Mikie Sherrill is also considered a likely candidate and reportedly could launch her campaign as soon as next week. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former state Sen. Steve Sweeney, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller are all among the Democrats seeking the party’s nomination. Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told CQ Roll Call earlier this week he didn’t plan to weigh in on the primary, but praised the field of “quality candidates.” New Jersey and Virginia are both set to hold gubernatorial elections next year. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., opted against running for reelection this year, having launched her gubernatorial campaign a year ago. Before he was elected to Congress, Gottheimer worked for President Bill Clinton, first as an undergraduate on his 1996 campaign’s “rapid response” team, and later as a White House speechwriter. He later worked as a strategic communications director for Ford Motor Co. and as a corporate strategy manager for Microsoft. Gottheimer defeated seven-term incumbent Scott Garrett, a Republican, when he first ran for office in 2016 and has won reelection since. He was reelected last week with 54.5 percent of the vote, with 95 percent of votes counted as of Friday. Jackie Wang contributed to this report.
