On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) stated that energy bills in New Jersey have skyrocketed because “we haven’t taken an all of the above approach, so we haven’t kept up with enough energy.” And Democrats “have to remind people that we’re the party that actually has common sense, that cares about people, that actually gets the back of the average person, and the other guys, they don’t care.”
Gottheimer said, “The number one issue I heard about in every diner in Jersey…was about costs.”
He added, “The big focus has to be on making taxes lower and more affordable, childcare costs, you’ve got to deal with. These energy bills are killing people, right? Up 40% in New Jersey in the last year, our energy bills.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough then cut in to ask, “And why is that?”
Gotthimer answered, “Because there’s not enough supply. There’s too much demand. You add AI to it, and you just, people — the cost will just keep going up. And we haven’t kept up, we haven’t taken an all of the above approach, so we haven’t kept up with enough energy.”
Scarborough then cut in to ask, “[A]ren’t we producing more energy than ever before? Aren’t we drilling more than ever before?”
Gottheimer responded, “[Y]ou have certain states…that have — it’s all — there’s all consortiums, right? Certain states have access to more supply than others. So, certain states are paying more. And so, our state is paying. Ohio might and Texas might have more and better, cheaper energy. We don’t.”
Later in the interview, Gottheimer said that cost of living has exhausted people and that’s “what I worry about the most for Democrats right now. We have to remind people that we’re the party that actually has common sense, that cares about people, that actually gets the back of the average person, and the other guys, they don’t care. But we’ve lost that narrative. We’ve got to get that narrative back. And, to me, common sense, getting things done, we’re the party that cares about regular people. And the average Joe, right now, too many of them think that we’ve lost sight of the most important issues.” And stated that the party lacks focus on the most important issues.
Gottheimer concluded, “And they’re going to use the socialism stuff against us. We’ve got to get ready for that, because that’s just reality.”
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