Gottheimer has been one of the leaders of moderate to conservative House Democrats, often frustrating the liberal wing of the party. | Danielle Parhizkaran /The Record via AP Democrat Gottheimer to face primary challenge in New Jersey’s 5th District

New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a deep-pocketed leader among moderate Democrats in the House, is about to face a primary challenge from a local elected official who was campaigning for him just eight months ago.

Arati Kreibich, a neuroscientist and freshman councilwoman from the Bergen County borough of Glen Rock, says Gottheimer had offered northern New Jersey’s 5th congressional District a chance to move on from seven terms of Republican Scott Garrett, who was by far the most conservative member of New Jersey’s House delegation.


But Kreibich, who announced her campaign in a video released Monday morning, said Gottheimer — a former Microsoft executive and speechwriter to Bill Clinton — has left her disheartened, and that she is increasingly convinced his bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus hasn’t solved anything.

What he has achieved, she said, is incremental and, in some cases, morally questionable — like helping kill a Democratic amendment that would have added more oversight and restrictions to the border security bill passed last month.

“I campaigned for Josh. I had signs on my lawn. I did whole big get-out-the-vote canvas for him. I knocked on doors for him. I’ve of course been a supporter because I thought that was the way to move forward,” Kreibich said in an interview with POLITICO. “But I’ve been incredibly disillusioned and disappointed by the kinds of decisions he’s making and not making.”

Kreibich — who, at 44, is the same age as Gottheimer — plans to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. She is backed by Anna Wong, a co-leader of the group Indivisible NJ 5th District, a grassroots, anti-Trump organization.

Gottheimer has been one of the leaders of moderate to conservative House Democrats, often frustrating the liberal wing of the party.

He was a key figure in whipping Democrats to pass the Senate version of the border security bill, rather than a House version that included provisions championed by House Appropriations Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), such as stricter language intended to protect migrant children at the border.

Gottheimer also has angered progressive Democrats by taking on members of his own Democratic caucus, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), for comments he alleged were anti-Semitic. Media outlets on the left have zeroed in on Gottheimer, with The Intercept publishing critical articles about him, including one that alleged he treated staff poorly. His ties to the group No Labels, which pushes for more bipartisanship, also angers some activists in his district.

Kreibich argued the 5th District is shifting Democratic — President Donald Trump won the district by just 1 percentage point in 2016 — and no longer needs such a moderate congressman for their party to hold the seat. Her main message, though, appears to be that Gottheimer is beholden to corporations and is spinning his wheels on most issues of importance to Democrats.

“What we have is a representative in Congress who is not representing us, who is not representing the people. I think what he is representing are corporate donations that he gets. I think he’s in the pocket of corporations, quite frankly,” Kreibich said. “And I think when he does push for policies, they’re policies that are either actively against our particular self-interest or they’re really small, incremental changes. And, frankly, small, incremental changes are not cutting it.”

Gottheimer has been a key figure in fighting the new cap on state and local tax deductions imposed by the Republican-backed federal tax code changes, an unpopular move in high-tax New Jersey and, particularly, in some of the suburban Bergen County communities Gottheimer represents.

He’s also made a point of pledging to protect Social Security and Medicare, and has made veterans and national security issues one of his focuses. He claims to have secured 56 percent more federal support for first responders and local governments. He also had a role in passing criminal justice reform and school safety legislation.

“Whether it’s lowering health care costs, safeguarding our drinking water, clawing more federal tax dollars back to the District or supporting our veterans and first responders, Josh is fighting tooth and nail for Fifth District families,” Gottheimer spokesperson Andrew Edelson said in a statement. “Indeed, voters recognized that Josh will always have their backs and stand up for Jersey Values when they overwhelmingly re-elected him in November. Josh is proud of his record and his focus continues to be on getting things done to improve the lives of families in the District and the state.”

Kreibich immigrated to the United States from India with her mother when she was 11. Her father had already made the journey to the U.S. She lived with her grandparents in Queens and became a U.S. citizen at 19.

Pushed by parents, she says urged her and her brothers to chase the American dream. Kreibich earned a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s spent much of her career in academia, focusing on brain disease — she’s studied autism and addiction — before becoming a scientific adviser to a nonprofit working to treat muscular dystrophy.

In 2017, Kreibich, a mother of two boys, became the first member of the South Asian community to be elected to the Glen Rock Borough Council after beating the Republican frontrunner by 187 votes. She says the election of Trump pushed her to become more involved in politics, spurring her to organize activists locally and eventually to seek elected office.

“I felt like I had to be a lot more active than I had been,” Kreibich said. “The 2016 election was definitely a before and after in my life.”

Kreibich is more liberal than Gottheimer and says that, if elected to the House, she would join the progressive caucus if invited to do so.

She's opposed to building a wall along the southern border and wants to see all undocumented immigrants given a path to citizenship.

Kreibich supports "Medicare For All", saying “health care is a right, it’s not a privilege,” but she doesn’t have a timeline for how quickly such a program should he implemented.

She supports the Green New Deal, and says the resolution laying out the deal “is great because it’s a great framework.” Should it be codified in law? “If that’s the ambitious framework in terms of the Green New Deal, absolutely.”

Kreibich thinks the federal minimum wage should be $15 an hour, supports decriminalizing marijuana, but not legalization and thinks the House should file articles of impeachment against the president. “Absolutely, 100 percent,” she says.

Challenging Gottheimer in a primary will not be an easy task. His fundraising prowess has earned him the nickname “human fundraising machine.” He had nearly $5.7 million sitting in his campaign account at the end of June after raising $1.7 million in the first six months of the year.

The 5th Congressional District stretches from suburban Bergen and Passaic counties, up through rural Sussex and Warren counties, where Republicans far outnumber Democrats. It has far different demographics than the sort of places where Democrats pulled off upsets against establishment figures during the 2018 midterm elections.

Gottheimer is hardly the only Democrat to face a primary challenger next year. Even traditional liberal Democrats aren’t safe, with Reps. Bill Pascrell (9th Dist.) and Frank Pallone (6th Dist.) both drawing primary challengers running to their left, even though both have much longer and more liberal records than Gottheimer. Freshman Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th Dist.), a moderate who nevertheless is popular in many progressive circles, has thus far avoided a challenger.

Local and state-level party officials expressed concern about a primary in the 5th District and some sought to defend Gottheimer’s record. Democratic State Committee Chairman John Currie, who also leads the party in Passaic County, expressed support for the congressman, as did county committee chairs from across the district.

In Bergen County, Democratic Chairman Paul Juliano and Vice Chair Balpreet Grewal-Virk said the party “has always welcomed diverse viewpoints under our Big Tent,” but they don’t want “forget how far we’ve come“ in the district. State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who lives just outside the district but is one of the most prominent elected officials in the county, released a statement of support, as did Tom Palmieri, the Warren County Democratic chairman, and Katie Rotondi, the Sussex County chairwoman.

One reason Democrats are so hesitant to invite a primary is the nagging worry Republicans could take back the district. Democrats only narrowly outnumber registered Republicans, and the shift from a GOP majority occurred after Gottheimer took office.

While Gottheimer easily dispatched his under-funded Republican opponent in 2018, five Republicans — including a wealthy former Wall Street executive — already have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to seek the GOP's nomination to run against him in 2020.

“Josh Gottheimer flipped the Fifth District when nobody thought it was possible and it is as important as ever that we keep the Fifth blue,” Currie said in a statement. “It is quite possible that maintaining Democratic control of the house in 2020 will come down to what happens in New Jersey. The Fifth District could be the difference between having Democratic or Republican Speaker. We need the strongest possible candidate who can win a swing district that Trump won and that is Congressman Josh Gottheimer.“

Matt Friedman contributed to this report.