Who says you can’t go home again?
As he mulls a bid for governor next year, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) has scored early endorsements from most of the Democratic establishment in North Caldwell, the West Essex suburb where he grew up, grabbing a municipality represented in Congress by another potential candidate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
Gottheimer has the backing of three of the four Democrats on the borough council – Matthew Atlas, Anthony Floria-Callori, and Stephen Weinstein – along with Democratic Municipal Chair Jann Skelton, and Mindy Opper, the school board president.
“North Caldwell is Josh’s hometown which makes our endorsement especially meaningful. He learned his Jersey values right here in our community,” the local Democrats said. “Josh is the best person to be our next governor, and we can’t wait to back him if he runs.”
They called him a “true North Caldwell success story.”
“He learned his Jersey values right here in our community,” the five Democrats stated. “Josh has fought for lower taxes, expanded the Child Tax Credit, passed historic gun safety legislation, fought for first responders, and made clear that he cares about every single one of us. We want someone who will work day in and day out to make life in New Jersey more affordable and get things done — and that’s Josh.”
Last week, Gottheimer won the endorsement of West Orange Mayor Susan McCartney and former Mayor Robert Parisi; Sherrill had represented the town during her first four years in Congress.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has also picked up support in Gottheimer and Sherrill territory. He has the backing of two Bergen mayors, John Labrosse of Hackensack and Michael Pagan, Closter Councilwoman Jannie Chung, former Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood), former Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-Maywood), and three former mayors: Frank Huttle of Englewood, Chris Chung of Palisades Park, and Andrew LaBruno of Dumont.
In Sherrill’s congressional district, Fulop has won endorsements from South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum and Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty; four ex-mayors are also backing Fulop: Frank McGehee of Maplewood, Thad Kobylarz of Chatham, and Raymond McCarthy of Bloomfield. He also has the backing of former Orange Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr.
In Fulop’s home county, Hudson, Gottheimer has picked off key Democratic vote-producers: Hudson County Executive/Democratic County Chairman Craig Guy, Union City Mayor/State Sen. Brian P. Stack, and Mayors Jimmy Davis of Bayonne, Richard Turner of Weehawken, and Albio Sires of West New York, a former congressman.
While attending West Essex High School, Gottheimer was hired by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg to work as a Senate Page. In between the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, Gottheimer was a White House speechwriter for Bill Clinton.
Gottheimer now lives in Bergen County, where he won a congressional seat in 2016 after ousting seven-term GOP incumbent Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in a district Republican Donald Trump carried.
In 2022, Gottheimer played a key role in helping North Caldwell Democrats take control of municipal government for the first time in 124 years; among the winners was Weinstein, Gottheimer’s cousin. In a joint campaign with his running mates, Weinstein raised $16,255, making him sort of a Dollar Store Gottheimer in comparison to the fundraising prowess of his more successful cousin, known nationally as the Human Fundraising Machine.
North Caldwell had been Republican enough to withstand the split between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, the blue wave that accompanied Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 landslide, and the 1973 and 1974 Watergate Democratic sweeps that caused other GOP strongholds to elect Democrats to municipal office.
Voter registration in North Caldwell is practically even.
Sherrill carried North Caldwell by ten percentage points and 328 votes, and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a Democrat, won North Caldwell by 836 votes and a massive 63%-37% margin.
Joe Biden carried North Caldwell by 236 votes in 2020, with U.S. Senator Cory Booker winning by 89 and Sherrill by 178. In 2016, Donald Trump had a 122-vote plurality and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) won by 829. Mitt Romney outpolled Barack Obama by 790 votes in 2012. Sherrill won North Caldwell by 11 points in 2018 when she flipped Frelinghuysen’s seat.
In 2020, Democrats scored their first local victories in more than a century, with Floria-Callori (2,260) and Atlas (2,241) ousting two Republican incumbents, Chiaia (2,165) and Cynthia Santomauro (2,157).
Republicans swept North Caldwell in 2021, with Jack Ciattarelli winning by 165 votes against Gov. Phil Murphy – a little better than Kim Guadagno’s 121-vote margin against Murphy in 2017. Republicans had carried North Caldwell by 597 votes in the 2009 governor’s race.