Gottheimer Stands Out from Same-Old, Status Quo Opponents on Making Jersey More Affordable

Fighting Trump When He Messes With Jersey Families 

 Will be the “Lower Taxes, Lower Costs” Governor  

NEWARK, NJ—Only one candidate on stage stayed laser-focused on the top issue facing New Jersey voters—the affordability crisis that is crushing Jersey families—and that was Josh Gottheimer. While other candidates squabbled over more of the same old talking points, Gottheimer stood out with his plan to lower taxes and costs. With just one month until the primary, Gottheimer still remains the only Democrat in the race who has released a plan to cut property and income taxes, a plan to lower the five biggest expenses whacking Jersey families, and a plan to defend our state’s vulnerable communities from Trump’s attacks. 

See below for key moments from tonight’s debate: 

• WATCH: Gottheimer on helping families and seniors make ends meet: “Housing is part of a much bigger issue. Jersey is just too damn expensive. 41% of seniors, according to AARP, said they’re considering leaving the state because taxes are too high, because property taxes are too high. People are getting crushed, whether rents, cause they’re up 33%, or their property taxes or childcare costs or utility bills going up 40%. People are leaving. They’re not coming. They’re getting crushed. We gotta cut people’s taxes. I’m the only one up here who’s put out a Tax Cut Plan.”
• WATCH: Gottheimer contrasting his plan with Trump and Elon’s chaos: “The difference between their chaos which is actually driving up prices and crushing people’s retirement savings, with Elon Musk and Donald Trump out of control and actually not saving anything, and actually looking at things and doing it smartly, and actually protecting the things we care about— all the programs, but running them smarter. All these other states have done it. It’s not impossible. Jersey can do it too. We’ve just always said, Oh, we can’t do that, not in Jersey, and that’s exactly the wrong attitude. We can do this and cut taxes and give renters a rebate and help seniors afford to stay here.”
• WATCH: Gottheimer on fighting Trump: “The courts are where we’re going to beat this guy right, and this is what the first 100 days, this has been what’s most successful of how we’re getting them. You gotta keep going to court. And I think the state is going to have to continue to be a great leader, as we have been on LGBTQ rights, on choice over the years, and we’re going to have to be the leader in fighting Trump when he messes with us.”

New Jersey’s Affordability Crisis

• New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.
• Child care costs are the second most expensive in the country. 
• Utility bills are set to rise 20% in June. 
• Rent is up 33% in the last five years across the state.
• Housing prices went up by 11% just last year.
• For the seventh year in a row, New Jersey was the top state for outmigration.

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