Josh Gottheimer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 5th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Preceded byScott Garrett
Personal details
Born (1975-03-08) March 8, 1975 (age 49)
Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Marla Tusk
​
(m. 2006)​
Children2
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania (BA)
Pembroke College, Oxford
Harvard University (JD)
WebsiteHouse website

Joshua S. Gottheimer /ˈɡɒtˌhaɪmər/ (born March 8, 1975) is an American lawyer, speechwriter, public policy adviser, and the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 5th congressional district. He has been active within the Democratic Party as a speechwriter for Bill Clinton and as an advisor for the presidential campaigns of Wesley Clark, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. He has also worked for Burson-Marsteller, the Federal Communications Commission, Ford Motor Company, and Microsoft. On November 8, 2016, he defeated incumbent Scott Garrett in the congressional race for New Jersey's 5th District.

Career

Gottheimer in 2012

Gottheimer was born in Livingston, New Jersey on March 8, 1975.[1] At the age of 16, Gottheimer served as a United States Senate Page for Frank Lautenberg, a Senator from New Jersey. Through high school and college, Gottheimer held internships with C-SPAN, the Secretary of the United States Senate, and Tom Foley, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[2]

Gottheimer graduated from West Essex High School, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Law School. While he attended the University of Pennsylvania, he served on the rapid response team for Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. Gottheimer attended Pembroke College, Oxford for a year following Clinton's reelection studying toward a DPhil in modern history on a Thouron Fellowship. He joined the Clinton administration as a speechwriter in 1998, at the age of 23,[2] working in the administration until its end in 2001. While attending law school, Gottheimer worked for Wesley Clark's 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign as an advisor.[3] After the 2004 election, Gottheimer worked for the Ford Motor Company, and then became executive vice president for Burson-Marsteller.[2] He worked for the Federal Communications Commission from 2010 through 2012,[4] where he led an initiative related to broadband internet.[5] He then joined Microsoft as a strategist.[6]

Congressional career

Gottheimer ran for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 5th congressional district, a seat held by Republican Scott Garrett, in the 2016 elections. After Garrett said that the National Republican Congressional Committee should not support gay candidates, Gottheimer began raising funds for his challenge with the help of Clinton allies and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Ben Ray Luján.[7][8]

Gottheimer attracted more attention than previous challengers to Garrett due to his fundraising ability[9] and ties to the Clintons.[10] His campaign's 2015 financial filings, in which Gottheimer reported raising around $1 million through the end of September, showed that "about one dollar in six came directly from fellow alumni of the Clinton White House and campaigns...or from major donors and employees of consulting firms tied closely to the Clintons."[3]

Gottheimer defeated Garrett,[11] and was sworn in January 2017.[12] He is the first Democrat to represent what is now the 5th since 1981 (most of this district was the 7th District prior to the 1980 Census). He is the Democratic co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.[13]

He is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. [14]

Personal life

Gottheimer is a native of North Caldwell, New Jersey, and he resides in Wyckoff, New Jersey.[15] He is Jewish and a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity.[2] He married Marla Tusk in 2006.[16] Together, they have two children.[2] Gottheimer has a net worth between $2.3 million and $10.3 million.[10]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ "Guide to the New Congress" (PDF). Roll Call. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e Palmer, Joanne (February 14, 2014). "'And then the phone rang…'; Wyckoff man's adventures in politics and public service". The Times of Israel. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Burns, Alexander (December 25, 2015). "Protégé of Clintons Targets U.S. Congressional Seat". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  4. ^ "Josh Gottheimer, Senior Counselor to the Chairman, to step down; Jordan Usdan named Acting Director of Public-Private Initiatives" (pdf) (Press release). Federal Communications Commission. June 20, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  5. ^ "FCC's Gottheimer to Lead New Broadband Public/Private Initiative". RadioResource Media Group. March 7, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  6. ^ Wingfield, Nick; Cain Miller, Claire (December 16, 2012). "Former Washington political brawler now battles for Microsoft". Business Standard. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  7. ^ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake (July 27, 2015). "After Rep. Garrett's comments on gay Republicans, Dems look to cash in". Politico. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  8. ^ "Former Clinton aide raises big money for potential N.J. congressional run". NJ.com. July 9, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  9. ^ "Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg backed this N.J. candidate - The Auditor". Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Jackson, Herb (March 13, 2016). "Jackson: A 'new Democrat' alternative in 5th Congressional District". The Record. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  11. ^ "Josh Gottheimer Defeats Scott Garrett in New Jersey Congressional Race". The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  12. ^ "Gottheimer takes seat as N.J.'s newest House member". Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  13. ^ Marcos, Cristina (February 3, 2017). "Lawmakers set up bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus for new Congress". The Hill. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  14. ^ "Members". Blue dog coalition. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
  15. ^ Jackson, Herb (May 4, 2015). "Donors start backing Wyckoff man as potential Garrett challenger for Congress". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Marla Tusk and Josh Gottheimer". The New York Times. December 10, 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2016.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives Preceded byScott Garrett Member of the U.S. House of Representativesfrom New Jersey's 5th congressional district 2017–present Incumbent U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) Preceded byVicente González United States Representatives by seniority 402nd Succeeded byClay Higgins
New Jersey's current delegation to the United States Congress
Current members of the United States House of Representatives
Authority control databases
Categories