“Lower Taxes. Jersey Values.”
Representative, NJ’s Fifth Congressional District 2017-Present
josh4jersey.com
This post about 2025 New Jersey candidate for governor Josh Gottheimer is part of Garden State Growth’s blog series exploring the Democratic candidates running in the June 10 gubernatorial primary election.
Candidate Overview
New Jersey candidate for governor Josh Gottheimer has been Representative for New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District since 2017, following a career in Democratic politics, public service at the Federal Communications Commission, and industry work in business strategy.
Josh Gottheimer’s campaign platforms include lowering taxes, lowering utility bills, affordable child care, protecting reproductive freedom, and protecting New Jersey values. Here’s how he stands on the key Garden State Growth policy pillars:
- Legal Rights and Social Protection – Reproductive freedom, expanding police, fighting antisemitism
- Cost of Living and Accessibility – Lowering utility bills by producing energy in New Jersey, building more houses
- Access to Health Care – Protections for reproductive freedom and IVF
- Quality of Education – His “New Jersey values” include universal pre-K and school meals, improved K-12 education
Josh Gottheimer’s Platform
Lowering Taxes
In his tax cut plan, Gottheimer calls for a 15% reduction in property taxes, a $500 annual renters’ rebate, temporary reduced taxes for people who move to New Jersey from other states, and a tax credit for jobs created in New Jersey, funded via claw-backs from taxes paid to Washington and New York and anti-tax-fraud investigations.
Lowering Utility Bills
Gottheimer calls for reduced utility bills through expanded power production. In Congress, he helped pass the Energy Cost Relief Act, Know Your Rates Act, and Home Energy Assistance Tax Credit Act, and restored federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Affordable Childcare
Gottheimer’s platform calls for increasing child tax credits and perks for households with children.
Reproductive Freedom
Gottheimer calls for protections for reproductive freedom, steps to keep IVF accessible, and policies to eliminate maternal mortality and raise awareness of rare diseases impacting women.
Protecting NJ Values
Gottheimer vows to protect women’s health care, expand and universalize family leave and Pre-K, improve K-12 education and school meal access, hire more police and expand community policing, combat street crime, and use expanded police to combat antisemitism and harassment, as well as help care for aging parents and address youth mental health crisis.
Learn More
Continue reading our six-part series to learn more about the Democrats’ other gubernatorial candidates.
Up next: Mikie Sherrill