| Josh Gottheimer represents New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District in the northernmost part of the state, which includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties. He was first sworn in on January 3, 2017, and is now in his fourth term in office.
In Congress, Josh serves on two Committees, including the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the Ranking Member of the National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee, and is a member of the National Intelligence Enterprise Subcommittee. Josh also serves on the House Financial Services Committee, where he is a member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, and the Subcommittee on Capital Markets.
In January 2017, Josh was elected Co-Chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, where he promotes commonsense over extremism and works across party lines on key issues, including lowering taxes, protecting our environment, making healthcare more affordable, protecting America's national security, and improving infrastructure to help the American people. He was re-elected Co-Chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus in January 2023.
Josh is also a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the New Democrat Coalition.
Just two months into his first term, Josh passed his first amendment in the House, which was later signed into law, to accelerate the hiring of post-9/11 veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Josh has been named one of the top ten Members with the most amendments considered on the House floor.
As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Josh understands that the safety and security of the United States is at a critical juncture, with rapidly evolving threats from foreign terrorists, and bad actors including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other oppressive regimes.
Josh is committed to lowering taxes and getting Fifth District residents a better return on the federal tax dollars they already send to Washington. In 2021 alone, by working with Fifth District mayors, councils, first responders, and towns, Josh helped claw back $750 from Washington for every household in the Fifth District - a 357% increase from what the District has historically received. These dollars help first responders protect our communities while offsetting the strain on local budgets and property tax bills.
For his support for pro-growth policies and bipartisan governing, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has awarded Josh its Spirit of Enterprise Award every year he has served, as well as its first ever Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship. Given his consistent work on both sides of the aisle and as Co-Chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, Josh has been recognized multiple times as the most bipartisan Democrat in the House by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Josh has also received the Jefferson-Lincoln Award from the Panetta Institute for Public Policy.
Josh is dedicated to combating antisemitism and strengthening the historic U.S.-Israel relationship. Josh helped secure passage of legislation reaffirming the Obama-Biden Administration's ten year U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), fighting the BDS movement, and investing in the Iron Dome program.
Josh was raised in North Caldwell, the son of a preschool teacher and a small business owner. Growing up, Josh worked in his father's store and, like your average New Jersey kid, treasured summer vacations at the Jersey Shore. His first concert was at the Meadowlands to see the one and only Bruce Springsteen!
Josh graduated from West Essex High School before attending the University of Pennsylvania, later becoming a Thouron Fellow at Oxford, and then paid his way through Harvard Law School.
Before running for Congress, Josh worked at Microsoft as General Manager for Corporate Strategy, where he focused on the company's expansion into the cloud, e-commerce, and privacy. He was also a member of both the Ridgewood and New Jersey Chambers of Commerce, the Rutgers Business School Advisory Board, and was a visiting fellow at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology. He also taught history at the University of Pennsylvania.
Josh's approach to public service is rooted in his experience in both the public and private sectors. During his time working with President Clinton, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Senator Frank Lautenberg, and Speaker Thomas Foley, he saw that, by seeking common ground, it is possible to find a bipartisan path forward without compromising your core values. Josh firmly believes that it does not matter if an idea comes from the Democratic or Republican side of the aisle, only whether it will help our great country and the communities and people of New Jersey.
Josh now lives in Wyckoff, New Jersey, with Marla, his wife who was a federal prosecutor, and their two young children, Ellie and Ben. |