Is N.J. gov candidate’s Springsteen fan-boying funny or phony? | Opinion

Gottheimer Annouces a Run for NJ Governor

U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer, who recently announced his candidacy for the governor of New Jersey, posted a questionable Spotify Wrapped that may have been boosting his love for Bruce Springsteen.Amanda Brown| For NJ Advance Media

UPDATE: N.J. gov candidate accused of fake Springsteen fandom releases real Spotify Wrapped

Josh Gottheimer professes to be a serious Bruce Springsteen fan.

Last month, when the New Jersey congressman announced he was running for governor, he took the podium to The Boss’s classic “Glory Days.”

Gottheimer, a Bergen County Democrat and four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, also name-drops Bruce on his campaign’s website, noting how he spent his childhood “catching a Springsteen show every chance he could get.”

But a confusing social media post suggested Gottheimer may be exaggerating his Bruce bonafides.

On Friday, Gottheimer posted to Twitter/X what appeared to be a screenshot of his top five songs from his Spotify Wrapped, taking part in the annual cultural show-and-tell, where many of the music streaming service’s users post the songs they listened to most in a given year.

All five tracks on his list were Springsteen hits: “Thunder Road,” “Because the Night,” “Glory Days,” “Badlands” and “The Rising.”

“No surprises here,” Gottheimer, 49, said in the post. “Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss!”

That all seems believable, or at least in step with the North Caldwell native’s pro-Bruce persona.

But as first noted Monday in the New Jersey Monitor’s newsletter, there were some discrepancies in Gottheimer’s post, calling into question whether the screenshot was authentic.

Among the inconsistencies seen below: The “g” in “Your top songs” was written in a different typeface than the “g” Spotify uses. The numerals, spacing and resolution were off, as well.

When reached Monday afternoon, Gottheimer confirmed his post was indeed a manufactured list and not pulled directly from Spotify.

“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12 and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said in a statement to NJ Advance Media. “While it’s Springsteen all day for me — don’t get me wrong, I still love listening to Taylor Swift!”

At risk of over-inflating the importance of a politician’s rock ‘n roll listening habits, Gottheimer’s post — shared without the context that it was fake — could be viewed as an attempt to strengthen his Springsteen-fan, every-man status among would-be voters.

After all, riding hard for the Boss is one of the easiest ways to score points in New Jersey — it’s the Garden State equivalent of shouting “Roll Tide” in Alabama or devouring a corn dog at the Iowa State Fair.

Of course, Gottheimer isn’t the first local pol to embrace this strategy. Last year, Gov. Murphy declared Sept. 23 (Springsteen’s birthday) to be “Bruce Springsteen Day” in New Jersey. And former Gov. Chris Christie — a very vocal Boss diehard — made sure the B Street Band (a Springsteen tribute band) played at his inaugural gala in 2010.

A prolific fundraiser, Gottheimer is considered one of the favorites for the Democratic nomination next year in the busy race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 640 million users.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

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Jeremy Schneider

Stories by Jeremy Schneider

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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.

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