Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) is up on the air with a new ad to boost his re-election bid in New Jersey’s 5th district, but his curtain call as one of the people to block New York’s dead-for-now Congestion Tax won’t hurt his chances if he decides to seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year.
The ad touts Gottheimer’s “five-year crusade to stop congestion pricing,” which he argues would have cost New Jerseyans who work in parts of New York City roughly $4,000 annually, on top of tolls and parking.
It includes a clip of a reporter who says, “Few political leaders in New Jersey can be as pleased as Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who has been on a five-year crusade to stop congestion pricing.”
“We kept on fighting every single day,” Gottheimer says in the ad. “As I always say, never mess with Jersey.”
Gottheimer has also claimed that the Congestion Tax would have increased cancer-causing pollution in North Jersey and that the entirety of the revenue generated by the tax would have gone to Janno Lieber’s “bottomless, mismanaged MTA pit.”
Two weeks ago, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul “indefinitely” paused Lieber’s plan to institute a tax on cars driving south of 60th Street in Manhattan.
Gottheimer is heavily favored to win a fifth term this year against Mary Jo Guinchard, the former mayor of a tiny village in New York about ten miles from the New Jersey border and the winner of the June 4 Republican primary.
The Human Fundraising Machine’s ability to run ads five months before the election underscores the advantage of an $18.4 million warchest (as of four weeks ago) as he mulls a statewide campaign.
Four candidates are already in the gubernatorial race: Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop; former Senate President Steve Sweeney; Newark Mayor Ras Baraka; and Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association. Gottheimer and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) will need to wait until after the November general election to enter the race if they decide to run.