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Josh Gottheimer

U.S. House · NJ-5 · Democrats · since 2025

also

Candidate for U.S. House · NJ-5

Target Josh

Biography

Overview

Josh Gottheimer is a Democratic U.S. Representative from New Jersey's 5th congressional district, serving since 2017. A former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and adviser to multiple Democratic presidential campaigns, Gottheimer has a background in policy, law, and business experience at companies like Microsoft and Ford. He is an attorney and has worked in communications and broadcasting regulation. He has been elected to five consecutive terms in the House.

Career

Gottheimer helped develop and push the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 through Congress and voted for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. He led a group of moderate Democrats in 2021 to separate the Biden administration's infrastructure and social spending packages, resulting in the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. He has championed gun safety measures including support for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and worked on renewing the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. On cryptocurrency, he has advanced bipartisan digital asset regulation, including the FIT21 Act. He introduced the Invest to Protect Act to fund police departments, which passed the House. Gottheimer has been a consistent advocate for SALT deduction restoration and has opposed Manhattan congestion pricing, introducing multiple bills to exempt New Jersey drivers.

Prior political experience

Gottheimer was first elected in 2016, defeating seven-term Republican incumbent Scott Garrett with 51.1% of the vote to Garrett's 46.7%—a significant upset in a highly competitive race. He was re-elected in 2018 with 56% of the vote against John McCann. In 2020, he won his third term with 53% of the vote against Frank Pallotta, running ahead of Joe Biden's performance in the district. In 2022, following redistricting that added 6 points of Democratic voters to the district, Gottheimer won with 54.7% of the vote against Pallotta. In 2024, he was elected to his fifth term with 54.5% of the vote, defeating Republican Mary Jo-Ann Guinchard. In 2025, Gottheimer ran for Governor of New Jersey but placed fourth in the Democratic primary with 11.8% of the vote, losing to U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill. He has announced his intention to seek re-election to the House in 2026.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress-0.164

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
+0.212
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 293 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
5thU.S. House NJ-52025–presentIn progressJosh Gottheimer—
4thU.S. House NJ-52023–2025Term endedJosh GottheimerJosh Gottheimer
3rdU.S. House NJ-52021–2023Term endedJosh GottheimerJosh Gottheimer
2ndU.S. House NJ-52019–2021Term endedJosh GottheimerJosh Gottheimer
1stU.S. House NJ-52017–2019Term ended—Josh Gottheimer

Committee assignments

  • National Security Agency and Cyber
    HouseRanking Member· 2025–present
  • National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions
    House· 2025–present
  • Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence
    House· 2025–present
  • Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture
    House· 2025–present
  • Capital Markets
    House· 2025–present
  • House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
    House· 2025–present
  • House Committee on Financial Services
    House· 2025–present

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
2024U.S. House NJ-5Pending54.56%