Gottheimer will skip conventions with predetermined outcomes

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) won’t participate in Democratic county conventions where he thinks the outcome is preordained and will join Steve Fulop and Steve Sweeney in skipping tonight’s vote in Mercer County.

“My rule is simple: I’m not walking into any diners where I know I’m going to get whacked — where the fix is in,” he said.  “I’m grateful to our Democratic committee members, and I’ll continue to sit down with them and voters across our great state.”

That creates a three-way race tonight between Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association and a former mayor of Montclair. With no county organization lines, the stakes are lower.

But Gottheimer is also not competing at the Burlington Democratic convention on March 1, where the county chairman has not taken sides and where Sweeney is participating.  He’s also not going to Monmouth County.

Gottheimer said he’ll take his fight directly to voters.

“Since I launched my campaign, I’ve traveled to every county across the state, talking with folks in diners about how Jersey is too damn expensive, and how my “Tax Cut Plan” will help solve our affordability crisis. I’m launching the next phase of my ‘Jersey Diner Tour’ — focused on tax cuts and lower costs,” said Gottheimer, a five-term congressman.  “There is no better way to understand the challenges our families are facing, and to solve their problems, than to hear directly from them.”

Sherrill is the front runner in Mercer: she has endorsements from Democratic County Chair Janice Mironov, County Executive Dan Benson, Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin, and a large group of county and local elected officials and Democratic municipal chairs.

She will need 50% to win on the first ballot – and avoid a runoff — and 60% to prevent sharing the organization slogan with another candidate.