Joined by Local Faith and Community Leaders

Above: Gottheimer at prayer breakfast at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack.

HACKENSACK, NJ — Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) and Chairman of the Democratic Caucus Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) attended a North Jersey prayer breakfast hosted by Reverend Dr. John O. Page at Mount Olive Baptist Church. 

The breakfast included prayers led by Rev. Dr. John O. Page, Rev. Dr. Lester Taylor, and Rev. Dr. Drew Kyndall Ross, musical performances, and remarks from Gottheimer and keynote speaker, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. 

“As I look around the room, I can’t help but think just how blessed we are to be surrounded by so many remarkable faith and community leaders. It’s because of your tireless work that North Jersey continues to be an amazing place to live and raise our families,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer. “The best way we can make change is to stand together as one community, to reach across faiths and backgrounds, to friends and neighbors —to fight hate and extremism. That is the best way to fight back against those who want to reverse the progress we’ve made in that march toward equality … who want to limit economic and educational opportunity … who want to roll back women’s rights and voting rights … who want to limit our support for housing, veterans, and good policing … who want to undermine our basic American values, our Jersey values.”

Gottheimer continued, “We are joined today by someone who fights hard, someone who does so much good for our country and never grows weary. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries never backs down, gets in plenty of good trouble, and always makes sure the voices of the people are heard. And I am very proud to stand with him as a friend and colleague.”  

“It was great to join my good friend and colleague Rep. Josh Gottheimer and the faith-based leaders in North Jersey who are making a tremendous difference in the community for a wonderful prayer breakfast. I thank the Reverend Dr. John O. Page of the Mount Olive Baptist Church for hosting us and Rep. Gottheimer for his stellar leadership. This is a challenging time for our country and our democracy. But America is a resilient nation and we always have been able to overcome turbulent moments in our journey,” said Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. “Rep. Josh Gottheimer is a leader who gets things done, solves problems for his community, delivers big results and puts people over politics. I look forward to our continued work together, as we fight for lower costs, better-paying jobs, tax relief and safer communities.”

Gottheimer was joined by Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, Rev. Dr. John O. Page of Mount Olive Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Lester Taylor of Community Baptist Church of Englewood, Rev. Dr. Drew Kyndall Ross of New Hope Baptist Church of Hackensack, Pastor Emeritus of Mount Olive Baptist Church Rev. Gregory J. Jackson, Rev. Preston E. Thompson Jr. of Ebenezer Baptist Church of Englewood, Bergen County NAACP President Jeff Carter, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton, New Jersey State Senator Gordon M. Johnson, Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, New Jersey Assemblywoman Ellen Park, New Jersey Assemblywoman Shama Haider, Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Zur, Estina Baker of Mount Olive Baptist Church, and faith leaders.