Gottheimer Asked If Other Democrats Challenging Him In Primary Would Lose To A Republican Candidate

On Sunday, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) spoke to CNN's Manu Raju about his campaign to be New Jersey Governor.

Transcript

00:00So one of your competitors, Jersey City Mayor Steve Phillip, told the New Jersey Monitor this

00:04week that Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill, who's also running in this race, is, quote,

00:08a creature of the political establishment. She has the same machine infrastructure and the same

00:13playbook as was run in the last 25 years. Do you agree with that criticism, Congressman,

00:19that Mikey Sherrill is a creature of the political establishment?

00:22I agree that, you know, this is a competitive race and Steve Phillip, who's actually a product of the

00:30Jersey City machine, where, by the way, rents are the second highest in the country and people are

00:36really struggling in Jersey City and around the state to try to get costs down. You know, that's

00:41my focus on the issues. And, you know, listen, they're going to look, my opponents are going to

00:44keep battling each other, which I think is a mistake. I'm focused on fighting for the people

00:48in Jersey, what I'm going to do for them. And I think that's what we all should be talking about,

00:51how we're going to get costs down, get taxes down, whether that's child care costs. And I'm the only

00:56one who's actually put out plans to lower taxes and lower costs, which is, I think, again, what

01:02people want to know we're focused on as Democrats, both in Jersey and nationally. I think, Manu,

01:08that's got to be our message. And that's how we win this race, both in June and November.

01:12And if you don't want to criticize them, but are you worried at all that if one of them wins,

01:17one of your opponents wins, whether it's Mikey Sherrill or New York Mayor Ross Baraka,

01:23that Trump's endorsed candidate, Jack Cittarelli, could win? He lost by only three points in 2021.

01:30Are you worried that one of your Democratic opponents, if they win the primary,

01:33could lose to a Republican?

01:37Listen, Manu, I think this is going to be a very tough November for whichever Democrat wins.

01:42That's why I'm best suited for it. I'm the only Democrat who's ever beat a sitting Republican

01:46incumbent. I won my seat, first Democrat in 84 years to hold my seat. And I just won the last

01:51election by 12 points in my district. And Harris only won it by one point. This is going to be a

01:56tough November. And I think we've got to be prepared for that. And that's why New Jersey is

02:00going to be so important, not just, of course, in nine days, but in November. That's why I'm the

02:05best one suited to not just win the primary, but to beat Cittarelli very clearly.

02:10All right. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thank you so much.

02:11We'll knock a Manu. It'll be a knockout punch, man.

02:14All right. I appreciate you coming out and sharing your perspective.

02:18Thanks so much for your time this morning.