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Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s 2018 Report Card

Representative from New Jersey's 5th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2017 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Gottheimer’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Gottheimer’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 2nd most bills compared to House Freshmen

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 19 of Gottheimer’s 19 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Gottheimer caucused with in the 115th Congress.

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (91st percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Got influential cosponsors the 2nd least often compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)

1 of Gottheimer’s bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.Res. 684: Objecting to the United Nations …

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); House Freshmen (22nd percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile).

 

Got their bills out of committee the 2nd least often compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Gottheimer introduced 3 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 4925: FRA Safety Data Improvement Act; H.R. 6323: Senior Security Act of 2018; H.R. 6428: Frank Leone Post Office Act

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); House Freshmen (45th percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 4th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 258 bills that Gottheimer cosponsored, 59% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); House Freshmen (98th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Wrote the 4th fewest laws compared to New Jersey Delegation

Gottheimer introduced 1 bill that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 6428: Frank Leone Post Office Act

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); House Freshmen (37th percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Ranked 5th most politically right compared to House Democrats

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 115th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Gottheimer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (50th percentile); House Freshmen (46th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 4th least often compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 4 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Gottheimer supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Gottheimer 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Gottheimer cosponsored H.R. 4494: Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund …

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); House Freshmen (28th percentile); House Democrats (16th percentile); All Representatives (19th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 22nd fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Gottheimer cosponsored 258 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); House Freshmen (54th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (44th percentile).

 

Got the 50th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Democrats

Gottheimer’s bills and resolutions had 151 cosponsors in the 115th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (33rd percentile); House Freshmen (58th percentile); House Democrats (24th percentile); All Representatives (33rd percentile).

 

Bills Introduced

Gottheimer introduced 19 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (42nd percentile); House Freshmen (63rd percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Gottheimer’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 2498: Freedom from Discrimination in Credit …

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (30th percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Committee Positions

Gottheimer held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Gottheimer’s Profile »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Leadership Score

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 115th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Gottheimer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (33rd percentile); House Freshmen (46th percentile); House Democrats (29th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Gottheimer missed 1.3% of votes (16 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Gottheimer’s Profile »

Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (42nd percentile); House Freshmen (50th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 115th Congress) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.