Two New Jersey Democrats running for governor skipped out on a controversial immigration vote. Here’s where they stand.

When the U.S. House approved the Republican-led bill requiring the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes, two New Jersey Democrats were notably absent from Tuesday’s vote.

U.S. Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, both Democrats running in the crowded gubernatorial primary, were the only New Jersey lawmakers who did not cast a vote on the Laken Riley Act — a measure that would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants who are arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.

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The bill is named after a 22-year-old woman who was murdered last year by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been released after being arrested for stealing from a Walmart store. He was sentenced to life without parole in November. In addition to the power to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes, the bill also gives state attorneys general authority to sue the Department of Homeland Security over immigration-related allegations.

On Tuesday, Sherrill and Gottheimer were among the 11 members of the House who did not vote on the measure. The bill passed the House, 264-159. All New Jersey Democrats in attendance voted against the bill.

Nationally, 48 Democrats crossed party lines and supported the measure, including Pennsylvania Reps. Brendan Boyle, of Philadelphia, and Chris Deluzio, who represents a section of Western Pennsylvania. Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat from Philadelphia, did not vote. The bill is now slated for a vote Friday in the Senate, where Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) is its lone Democratic cosponsor.

When the bill was up for a vote in the House last year, Gottheimer voted in its favor and Sherrill voted against it. Both lawmakers declined to say why they sat out the most recent vote.

But on Wednesday, Tony Wen, a spokesperson for Gottheimer, said the lawmaker would have voted in favor of the bill if he’d been there — which would have made him the lone New Jersey Democrat in the House of Representatives supporting the measure. Wen said Gottheimer’s office submitted his would-be vote to the Congressional Record on Wednesday afternoon but declined to elaborate on Gottheimer’s position.

In a statement Wednesday, Sherrill criticized the legislation, saying lawmakers were “playing politics with a serious issue.”

“The murder of Laken Riley was tragic — this bill, however, does not bring justice for her but instead mandates detention and eliminates due process rights for some people, including DACA recipients, who haven’t been convicted of or charged with a crime, which is why I previously voted against it,” Sherrill said.

Sherrill and Gottheimer were met with criticism from their opponents on both sides of the aisle in the governor’s race for not voting on the bill, with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat who opposes the measure, calling them “cowards,” and Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican who supports it, accusing them of lacking “the courage to stand up to their extreme far left base.”

“They should have the courage to vote first off all and they should have voted no,” Fulop said in a text message Wednesday. “[Trump’s] intention with this bill is to create a pipeline for mass detention and mass deportation which I believe most people in New Jersey don’t support.”

Fulop and Ciattarelli have both also bashed the two lawmakers for announcing their gubernatorial bids before being reelected to Congress. In response, Sherrill spokesperson Sean Higgins told Politico that both Fulop and Ciattarelli are “desperate.”

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The vote was not the first that Sherrill and Gottheimer have missed in recent months.

Both lawmakers missed more votes than 95% of their colleagues in November and December, according to GovTrack, a website that collects data on Congress members’ voting records. Gottheimer missed 29 of 62 votes during that period, and Sherrill missed 21, according to GovTrack.

Gottheimer missed 115 during his previous terms from January 2017 to December 2024, and Sherrill missed 117 during her previous terms from January 2019 to December 2024.

In late November, Gottheimer’s then-spokesperson, Zach Florman, said that the lawmaker would “be at every critical vote and is already working closely with leadership to ensure that,” the New Jersey Monitor reported.

Sherrill and Gottheimer also did not vote on the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, which is intended to support the Department of Veterans Affairs services, the Monitor reported. The vote took place the day Sherrill announced her campaign and just a few days after Gottheimer announced his. They were the only members of the state’s House delegation who did not participate in the vote.

A few days later, Gottheimer was the only member of New Jersey’s 11-member congressional delegation to miss two more votes, including the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would allow the government to revoke the tax-exempt status of groups it accuses of supporting terrorism, the Monitor reported.