NJ-05: How one Josh Gottheimer vote led to his primary challenge by Arati Kreibich
When Josh Gottheimer won election to Congress in 2016, his victory was a bright spot on an otherwise dismal Election Day for the Democratic Party.
Not only did Gottheimer become the first Democrat to win the 5th Congressional District since the 1980s, he captured the seat away from Scott Garrett, an arch conservative loathed by liberals. Democratic voters in the district cheered.
Four years later, some of the same Democrats who once backed Gottheimer are calling him “Trump’s favorite Democrat” and praying he doesn’t make it onto November’s ballot. They are backing Glen Rock Councilwoman Arati Kreibich’s bid to win the Democratic nomination over Gottheimer on July 7.
The choice for Democrats in this district is not unlike the one facing them in primaries around the nation: progressive challengers argue their opponents are too conservative and not sufficiently anti-Trump, while incumbents say their challengers are out of step with mainstream voters.
Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said 2020 elections have largely not produced the kinds of insurgent victories that brought Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress last year. Democrats are heavily invested in incumbent protection “and nowhere is that more true than New Jersey's 5th Congressional District,” he said.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2020/06/25/josh-gottheimer-vote-led-his-primary-challenge-arati-kreibich-2020-primary/3246192001/
