Garrett was criticized by industry insiders for having protested his party backing openly-gay Republican candidates, leading directly to Capital One, Goldman Sachs, PNC, State Farm, and Nomura ceasing payments to his political action committee;[23][24][25] throughout the campaign, Gottheimer and national Democrats used this position, as well as Garrett's opposition to same-sex marriage and support for a bill allowing the denial of service to same-sex couples based on religious beliefs, to portray the congressman as a bigot who was too socially conservative for the district.

According to Kreibich, she was ultimately pushed to challenge Gottheimer after he played a leading role in passing an emergency border funding bill that failed to provide certain aid and safeguards to detained migrants.

[62] Her platform also included environmental policy, as she touted her work to ban single-use plastic bags and transition Glen Rock to renewable energy[63] as well as supported the Green New Deal,[64] and she was in favor of Medicare For All.

[125] In July 2024, Gottheimer joined New Jersey state senators Brian Stack and Nicholas Scutari to promote the federal Stop SCAMS Act, a bill he introduced with the aim to protect food assistance beneficiaries from theft by scammers.

The senators, noting that such scams had affected 6,200 New Jerseyans over the past two years, announced corresponding state-level legislation — both bills mandating the modernization of benefit EBT cards by replacing magnetic strips (which are especially vulnerable to skimming) with more secure microchip technology.

[132][133] In June 2022, Gottheimer voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which strengthened background checks and incentivized states to enact red flag laws and more harshly penalize firearm straw purchases.

In opposition to these clinics, the congressman, "...help[ed] lead the Stop Anti-abortion Disinformation Act in the House...[which] directs the Federal Trade Commission to prohibit mis- and dis-information related to abortion services and authorizes the FTC to penalize organizations that break this rule...[as well as] sent a letter to the Governor and leaders in the State Legislature asking them to...[restrict] crisis pregnancy centers’ deceptive marketing practices".

[156][157] In May 2024, Gottheimer held a press conference outside a crisis pregnancy center, Options for Her, in Cherry Hill to reiterate his opposition to what he called their "anti-choice" agenda, claiming: "...in reality, they just care about one thing: preventing women from actually making their own personal decision.

At a media event near a Tesla dealership on Route 17 Gottheimer was joined by the New Jersey Broadcasters Association director to argue that AM radio is still widely used and necessary in emergency situations; he warned that, if unregulated, car manufacturers may eventually charge fees for all infotainment options.

[190] In January 2023, Gottheimer and Rep. Mike Lawler introduced a bill that would stop the Department of Transportation from granting new capital investment funds to New York City's MTA projects unless drivers from New Jersey and the outer-borough crossings into Manhattan were exempted from congestion pricing.

[191] In July 2023, Gottheimer accused the head of the MTA and a primary congestion-pricing proponent, Janno Lieber, of causing children to get cancer, as traffic around the George Washington Bridge (the entrance to which is in Fort Lee, a town in his 5th district) could increase under a congestion pricing plan due to it being located north of the impacted zone.

John J. McCarthy, the MTA chief of policy and external relations, responded by calling the congressman "Gridlock Gottheimer" and alleging that he, "...still thinks more cars, more congestion and more pollution is the answer to the region’s clogged streets, and here he is again with yet another publicity stunt fighting for the status quo".

[208] To this end, Gottheimer signed a bipartisan letter "demanding" that any bill to fund the FAA must stipulate (and include money for) the hiring of air traffic personnel to capacity, then he introduced it to leaders of the House Transportation and Senate Commerce committees.

Later, in July 2023, Gottheimer voted in the House Financial Services committee to advance a Republican-led bill that would establish regulations for stablecoins by authorizing the SEC to oversee digital assets while also installing new restrictions on the agency.

Later the same week, Gottheimer led a bipartisan group of congresspeople in writing to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler pushing for the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, which they argued provided investors with a transparent and regulated entryway into cryptocurrency trading.

Gottheimer argued, "Stop-gap measures for short-term government funding weaken our military and harm...the ability for our states to plan critical infrastructure projects, and much more," so, since there were "more than 200 hours" before the deadline, Congress should have negotiated towards an omnibus deal "until the last possible minute".

A spokesperson wrote that, during the event, Gottheimer emphasized how, "With divided government, a bipartisan proposal was the only way to stop the far-right from holding Congress hostage, get a bill out of the Senate and signed into law by the President".

"[240] In October 2017, Gottheimer and Rep. Leonard Lance introduced the Return on Investment Accountability Act, which they wrote would, "...give tax credits to individuals whose states get less funding from the federal government than they pay in aggregate".

[252][253][254] In June 2021, Gottheimer co-sponsored a resolution led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, which, "...condemn[ed] the Chinese Communist Party for 100 years of gross violations of human rights, including repression, torture, mass imprisonment, and genocide," citing instances such as the annexation of Tibet and the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and concluded that the group, "...looks forward to the day that the CCP no longer exists.

"[263] In February 2024, Gottheimer joined Rep. Dan Crenshaw in sending a letter to Secretary Gina Raimondo requesting that the Department of Commerce add ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to its export control list in hopes of addressing "critical vulnerabilities" created by Chinese-government access to its software.

Though Gottheimer disapproved of reducing funds for countering tax fraud (saying he, "...do[es] not support the Speaker’s approach to [the] legislation"), he viewed passing the aid as paramount, arguing, "...we must ensure that Israel has the resources to defeat Hamas and other terrorists...[therefore] the symbol to the world of voting no would have done more damage".

[327][328][329] In a June 2024 interview with the New Jersey Globe, Gottheimer framed the war as "Hamas [being] a terrorist proxy of Iran...one of our enemies," who are "working very closely with the governments of China, Russia, North Korea," and, altogether, constitute, a "new Axis of Evil," versus Israel, which "has been a great partner because...she [is] a democracy and stands up for democratic values...whether it’s women or LGBTQ communities," and, "has been a key in fighting terror in the region.

Gottheimer, therefore, asserted that "I look at this purely for what’s good for America’s national security," and, as it relates to the Israel-Hamas war, "the Biden administration, on net, has done a phenomenal job and provided the resources that are critical to help fight terrorists in the region and our enemies.

"[330] On July 3, 2024, Gottheimer met with Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and Tzachi Hanegbi, the director of Israel's national security council, at the Israeli prime minister's office in Jerusalem.

[356] Following Menendez's 2023 indictment, CBS News reported that "...more Republicans, and even Democrats, [may] smell blood in the water and jump in the race," to which Ashley Koning, the director of the Rutgers Eagleton Poll, added that, "...top contenders are already serving seats within New Jersey...Whether it's somebody like Mikie Sherrill, or Josh Gottheimer, or Andy Kim".

[371] On December 4, 2023, Gottheimer wrote to the president of Rutgers University, asking that the school cancel a scheduled seminar (titled "Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill" and which was officially described as a discussion about, "the ongoing assault on Gaza...how anti-Blackness and settler colonialism shape the current discourse on Palestine, and...solidarity between Black, Indigenous, and Palestinian struggles") due to the congressman's belief that Estes and Lamont Hill were "well-known antisemites" and that, "allowing these speakers to present their antisemitic, anti-Israel views will promote hate speech and exacerbate the potential for violence and attacks toward Rutgers’ Jewish students".

Rutgers declined to cancel the event, as a spokeswoman wrote that the university, "value[s] academic freedom’s protections that allow...faculty and invited guest lecturers to state their views and engage in lively discourse".

"[379] In February 2024, a sticker with the design of the Palestinian flag and that read "Boycott Israeli Apartheid" was found affixed to a poster featuring a since-freed hostage from Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which was displayed outside Gottheimer's Capitol Hill office.

"[380][381] In March 2024, Gottheimer reported a second such instance wherein a Palestinian flag sticker reading "Free Palestine" was affixed to a hostage poster outside his office; he again called the incident "a blatant act of antisemitism and hate" as well as "truly deprived and heinous.

[397][398][399] To celebrate pride month in June 2023, Gottheimer hosted a roundtable with advocates and local leaders where they discussed hate crimes, public safety threats, homelessness, mental health issues, and bullying affecting the LGBTQ community.