Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) failed his bid to become the nation’s seventh Jewish governor on Tuesday, when he lost New Jersey’s Democratic primary to his colleague Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.).
“We ran as the lower taxes, lower costs governor, and as a fighter for hardworking Jersey families, and we finished the campaign that way,” Gottheimer said in his concession speech. “I still believe that’s what’s best for Jersey, and for the Democratic Party in our state and beyond.”
Sherrill will take on former state Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli in November, the latter’s second try for the governorship. The easy winner in Tuesday’s Republican primary, Ciattarelli lost a closer-than-expected race to outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, told JNS that Gottheimer wound up fighting with Sherrill over the same voters, and she had the edge from the beginning.
“She has always been the slight favorite and frontrunner,” Koning said. “She has clearly been the establishment candidate and overshadowed Gottheimer in that respect. They both took up the same lane on the same side, as being these moderate members of Congress.”
“I don’t think he had much room to grow,” she told JNS.
A former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor, Sherrill flipped a Republican-held House district in 2018, two years after Gottheimer did the same.
Gottheimer has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and helped lead the fight to release the hostages, whom Hamas captured on Oct. 7, 2023. He rejoiced when the terror group finally released hostage Edan Alexander, who grew up in New Jersey.
The Jewish congressman was endorsed by the Vaad, an influential group of Orthodox rabbis in Lakewood, N.J., and surrounding areas.
But Gottheimer’s pro-Israel advocacy might have invited some blowback, according to Koning. New Jersey has the seventh largest number of Arab American residents, according to the Arab American Institute, a Washington nonprofit.
“It clearly wasn’t a major issue in terms of the rhetoric, but it doesn’t mean voters didn’t consider that issue at the polls,” Koning told JNS.
Polls showed a tight contest going down to the wire, but Sherrill wound up winning easily. The Associated Press called the race for the four-term congresswoman just 39 minutes after polls closed.
“We all shared one vision: a New Jersey that works for everyone,” Sherrill said of her primary opponents in her victory speech. “Opportunity, affordability, community. That’s what we’re all fighting for.”
Gottheimer was fourth among the six candidates in the Democratic field, with more than 90% of the vote counted. He trailed Sherrill, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, but led New Jersey Education Association president Sean Spiller and former state Senate president Steve Sweeney.
Gottheimer was hoping to join Matt Meyer (Delaware), Jared Polis (Colorado), Josh Green (Hawaii), J.B. Pritzker (Illinois), Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania) and Josh Stein (North Carolina) as Jewish chief executives of U.S. states. Instead, he said he will seek re-election to the House next year.
This was the first gubernatorial election where candidates endorsed by county political parties did not get prime spots on the primary ballots.