Politico, “Gottheimer outlines plan to push back against Trump,” Madison Fernandez, 4/14/25
Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer is ramping up his criticism of President Donald Trump, vowing to pursue legal action against the administration should he become governor.
New Jersey has already had an active role in lawsuits against the Trump administration since Gottheimer retook office earlier this year. State Attorney General Matt Platkin has often said that Trump is “not a king” — a phrase that Gottheimer also used as he rolled out his so-called “Stop Trump and Protect Our Jersey Values Plan” on Monday.
Gottheimer outlined a range of issues he’s willing to take legal action against the administration over, including tariffs and cuts in entitlement benefits. He also said, if elected governor, he would go after other states that “violate people’s right to travel across state lines to access abortion services” and states that “have tried to force us to allow polluting industries.”
Gottheimer vowed to continue to invest in the state Attorney General’s Office, referencing the $1 million term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy allocated in the state budget to bolster the office’s legal fight against the Trump administration.
Messaging in the Democratic primary to succeed Murphy has been dominated by how the candidates will counteract the Trump administration’s agenda. Gottheimer, one of six Democrats running for governor, said he would use the governorship to aggressively push back against the president, vowing to enshrine “every precedent that SCOTUS or the Trump Administration overturns” in state law.
“There’s a lot of people in this race who say they’re going to fight Trump,” Gottheimer said at a car dealership in Tenafly, where he announced his plan. “But I’m the one who’s already been doing that with actual legislation in Congress.”
Gottheimer’s plan touches on:
Economy: Gottheimer took aim at Trump’s tariffs, which have caused international concern (though the president has put a temporary pause on many new tariffs). Gottheimer said, as governor, he would work with international trading partners to exclude products made in New Jersey from “retaliatory measures.” He also vowed to make utility companies add a line on utility bills to indicate increased costs caused by the tariffs.
He also proposed an amendment — what he calls the “Moocher Amendment” — to “prohibit a state from receiving one nickel more in federal expenditures than it pays into the federal treasury.”
Health care: Gottheimer again highlighted backing an abortion constitutional amendment — a move that other Democratic candidates have advocated for but legal experts have questioned the necessity of. He also said he would “enact a state-wide shield law to protect patients and providers from legal actions originating in states where IVF is restricted.”
Seniors and children: Gottheimer has previously rolled out plans addressing taxes and affordability for seniors. On Monday, he emphasized those proposals, and added that he would institute a “senior bonus” for those 70 and older who have lived in the state for a decade, as well as fully fund the state pension contributions.
Gottheimer also wants to make a separate veterans affairs department, which is currently grouped with military affairs. State lawmakers have introduced legislation to bifurcate the department.
He said he would enact presumptive eligibility for children receiving Medicaid and CHIP, and allow those receiving Medicaid to be eligible until they are three years old.
When it comes to education, Gottheimer said he would prohibit schools from doing business with publishers that have banned books in other states. He vowed that the state education department will continue to implement anti-discrimination policies, “even in the absence of federal oversight.”
Gottheimer also laid out his policy on guns, which includes requiring all firearms to have microstamping; raising the gun ownership age to 21; implementing a buy-back program for assault weapons; requiring gun barrels to have serial numbers; and making all new handgun models sold in the state have a “smart gun safety feature,” like a thumb scan.
Religion and immigration: Gottheimer, who is vying to be the state’s first Jewish governor (along with primary opponent Steven Fulop and Republican state Sen. Jon Bramnick), criticized the Trump administration for “cutting the funding for providing security to synagogues, other places of worship, and nonprofit organizations, and for monitoring and combating antisemitism in education.” He said he will fund those efforts if elected.
He also said in response to the administration’s deportation efforts that he will “block [Trump] at the front door” should Trump “round up innocent people in churches and schools,” and reiterated his support for the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which limits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials. (Murphy and Platkin are in the hot seat with interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities.)
Environment: Gottheimer proposes state-level policies that would prohibit “the attempted or actual manipulation and suppression” of scientific evidence used by state agencies, as well as establish “procedures for handling disagreements about scientific methods and conclusions and to define consequences for violations of scientific integrity.”
He also mentions investing in public transportation — which he says will lower greenhouse gases — and in updated water infrastructure.
Voting access: Gottheimer is proposing a suite of changes to voting access, including implementing same-day voter registration; expanding early voting to 45 days; sending mail-in ballots to registered voters; automatically registering voters who are enrolled in government services like Medicaid, SNAP and unemployment; and starting a mobile voting program to allow overseas military members and families to vote online.
New Jersey Globe, “Gottheimer releases platform for resisting Trump,” Zach Blackburn, 4/14/25
With Democrats lamenting President Trump’s aggressive start to his second term, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) is looking to corral that wrath with a set of anti-Trump proposals as part of his run for governor.
At a Tenafly Honda dealership on Monday, Gottheimer released a 19-page “Stop Trump and Protect Our Jersey Values Plan” platform dedicated to resisting the president’s economic moves and protecting residents Gottheimer considers vulnerable. The Democrat said Trump is mismanaging the tariff situation and conducting a “War on Seniors” with attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Gottheimer said he supports the Immigrant Trust Directive, a 2018 policy that says New Jersey police cannot arrest people based on their immigration status and cannot cooperate with the federal government’s civil immigration enforcement. The plan also states a Governor Gottheimer would “block [Trump] at the front door” if the president tried to execute mass raids within the state, but the plan did not provide details of what that resistance would look like.
The moderate Democrat said he wants to implement same-day voter registration, expand in-person early voting to 45 days, and introduce “universal” mail-in voting, a policy in which state officials would automatically mail ballots to all registered voters.
Gottheimer said he would aggressively enforce the state’s hate crime laws and fund security for synagogues and other places of worship.
“I’ll fight antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Asian, anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, anti-gay, and any form of hate,” he said. “Over the last months, Elon Musk and his cronies not only made antisemitic comments and gestures, but they also gutted the program that provides critical security to synagogues and religious schools, churches, and mosques in our communities.”
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