Well, it turns out the rumors were true.

Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer today officially launched his campaign to be the Garden State's next governor, vowing to lower taxes and bring more jobs to the state.

Gottheimer is a moderate who leads the Problem Solvers Caucus in Washington, and just won his fifth reelection bid to the House.

He's also a prolific fundraiser and a staunch supporter of Israel.

As senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, those centrist roots may be key as Gottheimer looks to occupy a critical lane in the party.

I'm Josh Gottheimer, and I'm running to be the lower taxes, lower cost governor of new Jersey.

Cheered by supporters jammed into a Bergen County diner, Congressman Josh Gottheimer tossed his hat into a very crowded ring of Democrats eager to succeed Phil Murphy as New Jersey governor.

The setting served as a visual metaphor for his campaign menu kitchen table politics with a decidedly moderate flavor.

A chicken in every pot but no progressive wings.

As the saying goes, as was laid bare in last week's election.

It's the economy.

Stupid and hard working middle class families like you deserve some relief.

Gottheimer promised to reform New Jersey's tax code to make it cheaper to move to Jersey and buy a home, and to expand the state's child tax credit.

He'd appoint a clawback czar to return tax dollars that Jersey sends to the federal government.

He's vowed to restore the so-called salt tax deductions for new Jersey homeowners.

A campaign message that resonates in a state with the nation's highest property taxes.

I'm not sure you've heard that from a Democrat in a really long time.

I'm going to cut your property and income tax cut.

He's business friendly and still opposed to congestion pricing.

Its recent revival by Governor Kathy Hochul is like a campaign gift for Gottheimer, and he's now promising reforms at NJ transit.

We also need better results for what we pay for.

We must have a first rate mass transit system without massive breakdowns and delays.

That's got to end.

I'll fix and significantly upgrade new Jersey transit.

Gottheimer just won a fifth term in Jersey's fifth Congressional District.

He's co-chair of the bipartisan problem Solvers Caucus in Congress and a fierce defender of Israel.

That will be a campaign issue.

And let me add, we need to bring the full force of the law against the anti-Semites who harassing Jewish or any other communities all over the state.

He's going to try and transcend what might be the usual Democratic lane.

Riders Micah Rasmussen thinks Gottheimer is a formidable candidate whose take away from the recent election is it's time for change.

I see Gottheimer almost as the anti progressive, in the race.

He's going to be arguing, I think, that the party needs to take a more moderate path, that the party needs to appeal to a wider swath of new Jersey voters.

We need to be sharper about this because we don't want to wind up like we did in the presidential election.

And Gottheimer is already rounding up major endorsements among party leaders, including Union City Mayor and Senator Brian Stack.

A get out the vote machine.

Bergen's already a rep.

The county chair says he has all the mayors and municipal chairs, mostly all of them.

Bergen delivers the largest throw vote for any Democratic candidate for the governor, etc., up and down the ballot.

As nearly a million people.

Gottheimer will share that moderate lane with a couple other Democrats for governor.

Former state Senate President Stephen Sweeney in South Jersey and Mikie Sherrill, another congressional Democrat who's expected to announce her run for governor on Monday.

So with what's happened with the national election, the Democratic Party is really just looking at itself and saying, are we focused on the right issues?

And so he's going to go to a Democratic base, that I think is primed for we don't want to lose further to the left.

Newark mayor race Barack up and JTA President Sean Spiller and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, the first Democrat to launch a gubernatorial campaign back in April 2023.

Fulop is carving out an entirely different lane.

And he can fight with for those voters with Ras Baraka and Sean Spiller is basically their thoughts.

And there's not enough of them, when they when they split that vote.

As for campaign cash, Gottheimer has got a reputation as a money raising machine.

Expect a lot of bucks to get dropped in this campaign.

In South Hackensack, I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.