Mahwah's Pallotta Adds Trump Pollster To Campaign Team

MAHWAH, NJ —Former investment banker Frank Pallotta has added a pollster for President Donald Trump and a former aide to ex-Gov. Chris Christie to his team in a bid to unseat incumbent Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

Jim McLaughlin was a pollster for Trump when he ran for president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. McLaughlin is president and partner at McLaughlin & Associates. He a political commentator on both television and in print, Pallotta's campaign said in a news release.

Peter Sheridan is Pallotta's general consultant and chief strategist. He is the former executive director of the New Jersey Republican Party and was a longtime aide to Christie.

Larry Wetizner and Barney Keller of Jamestown Associates are Pallotta's media consultants.

"I'm proud that such a dedicated and experienced team have signed-on to guide my campaign," Pallotta said in a statement. "With the help of this team and a growing number of volunteers across the district, I am going to take the fight to Josh over the course of the next 16 months."

Pallotta is facing off against Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali for the Republican Party nomination.

Pallotta recently received the endorsement of several Bergen County Republican elected officials from Mahwah, Paramus, Glen Rock, and New Milford, along with Matt Conlon, state chairman of the New Jersey Young Republican Federation.

Pallotta is a veteran of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. He retired from Morgan Stanely in 2008. He has lived in Mahwah since 1989 with his wife, Patty and their two sons. He briefly ran for mayor of Mahwah last year, but quickly dropped out of the race, along with two other candidates.

Related: Mahwah Finance Veteran Announces Campaign For 5th District Seat

The 5th District includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, and Warren counties. Most of the district's 647,000 residents, 75 percent, live in Bergen County.

Gottheimer is a two-term Democrat from Wyckoff. He is a former Microsoft executive and speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.

Gottheimer was first elected in 2016 when he defeated then-longtime incumbent Scott Garrett. He beat Republican John McCann, a powerful lawyer from Oakland, for re-election in 2018.

Related: Gottheimer Declared Winner In Close 5th District Race

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com